Dean G. Pruitt is SUNY Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychology at the University at Buffalo: State University of New York and Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University. He received his Ph.D. in psychology from Yale University and did postdoctoral work in psychology at the University of Michigan and in international relations at Northwestern University. His specialties are social conflict, negotiation, and mediation. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society and has received the Harold D. Lasswell Award for Distinguished Scientific Contribution to Political Psychology from the International Society of Political Psychology and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Association for Conflict Management.