Stephen J. Ceci

Stephen J. Ceci is a professor of developmental psychology at Cornell University. He studies the accuracy of children's courtroom testimony (as it applies to allegations of physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect), and he is an expert in the development of intelligence and memory. He has been the recipient of numerous awards, including lifetime contribution awards from the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Association for Psychological Science (APS) as well as many divisional and smaller society awards.

Personal life Stephen J. Ceci was born in Wilmington, Delaware, on March 22, 1950. He was the fourth of six children born to Italian parents. Ceci attended Catholic school until college. During childhood, he preferred playing sports and running around the neighborhood to attending school. As a teenager, Ceci worked as a numbers runner for a local bookie, where he became famous for his memory. and "Semantic Knowledge as a Determinant of Developmental Differences in Recall".

Career After graduating from the University of Exeter, Ceci worked for the University of North Dakota as an assistant professor. His research includes the study of children and the law, women and science, and intellectual development. Later, in 1995, Ceci would then become a part of an 11-member American Psychological Association task force led by Ulric Neisser which published "Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns", a report written in response to The Bell Curve.

He leads the Cornell Child Witness and Cognition Lab, one of the Lifespan Labs hosted by the Department of Psychology. This lab researches the connection of child psychology and the law by focusing on four key topics: child development, cognition and law, social psychology and the law, intellectual development, and select professional issues.

His professional expertise includes a broad spectrum of fields. One subject area that stands out in his career, is his research on women's under representation in science. This research has been praised by many commentaries, and his book The Mathematics of Sex has received endorsements from Diane Halpern, David Lubinski, Christina Hoff Sommers, Frank Farley, and Marcia Linn.

Ceci's article (co-written with Maggie Bruck), "The Suggestibility of Child Witnesses", won the 1994 Robert Chin Memorial Award for the most outstanding article on child abuse. His book (co-written with Maggie Bruck), "Jeopardy in the Courtroom: A Scientific Analysis of Children's Testimony", on the credibility of children's testimony in child abuse trials, received the 2000 William James Award for Excellence in Psychology. In 2003 Ceci received the American Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Scientific Applications of Psychology.

(Awarded alongside Judy DeLoache and Michael Lewis)2014American Psychological AssociationE. L. Thorndike Award 2018American Psychological AssociationG. Stanley Hall Award for Distinguished Contributions to Developmental Psychology

In the media Stephen Ceci has been seen on many forms of media, including: ABC 20/20, ABC Nightline, ABC Good Morning America, BBC, CBC Fifth Estate, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, New Yorker, Washington Post Time, Newsweek, London Times, and Reader's Digest. Was on the National Academy of Sciences' Board on Cognitive, Behavioral and Sensory Sciences from 1997 to 2007 Was on The National Research Council's SERP (Strategic Educational Research and Planning Committee) Was on the board of the past president of the APA (American Psychological Association) Society of Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Science Was the past president of the Society for General Psychology

He served on over 20 journals' editorial boards, as well as a senior advisor to several journals. His work has shaped how courts evaluate child witnesses, advocated for reforms in interviewing protocols, and raised awareness about how susceptible children are to suggestion and false memories. While Ceci has explored cognitive development more broadly, he has also extended his research to issues around gender differences in science, examining how stereotypes and hiring biases contribute to the under representation of women in STEM fields.

In 1990, Ceci introduced the "Bio-Ecological Theory of Intelligence", which holds that the level of mental activities or IQ are dependent on context. For example, he says traditional conceptions of intelligence ignore the role of society in shaping intelligence and underestimate the intelligence of non-Western societies. In another collaboration with psychologist Maggie Bruck, Ceci's work has moved beyond theory and has been implemented in real world scenarios, such as informing courtroom procedures and influencing judicial decisions. Notably, their findings have been cited by appellate judges when assessing the reliability of child witnesses, which emphasizes the real-world impact of their research on legal standards.