Faculty & Staff

Dr. Fred Shaffer
Professor of Psychology

M-F 9:30-10:30 and by appointment. You may request a Zoom appointment for another time.

Personal Pronouns: He/Him

M.S. Clinical Psychology, Oklahoma State University
Ph.D. Social-Personality Psychology, Oklahoma State University

Fredric Shaffer, PhD, BCB-HRV is a biological psychologist and professor of Psychology and former Department Chair at Truman State University, where he has taught since 1975 and has served as Director of Truman’s Center for Applied Psychophysiology since 1977. In 2008, he received the Walker and Doris Allen Fellowship for Faculty Excellence. In 2013, he received the Truman State University Outstanding Research Mentor of the Year award. Dr. Shaffer was the principal co-editor of Evidence-Based Practice in Biofeedback and Neurofeedback (3rd ed.) and authored 12 of its chapters. He was a co-editor with Donald Moss of Foundations of Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback: A Book of Readings. He co-authored with Mark S. Schwartz a chapter on entering the field and assuring competence in Biofeedback: A Practitioner's Guide (4th ed.). He co-authored with Donald Moss, a chapter on biofeedback in the Textbook of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (2nd ed.). He co-authored with Rollin McCraty and Christopher Zerr, the Frontiers in Psychology review article "A healthy heart is not a metronome: An integrative review of the heart's anatomy and heart rate variability." He co-authored with Jack Ginsberg, the Frontiers in Public Health review article “An Overview of heart rate variability (HRV) metrics and norms.” He is a contributing editor for the journal Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback. His current research focuses on techniques to increase heart rate variability. Dr. Shaffer is a BCIA Senior Diplomate in Biofeedback. Dr. Shaffer is the Past-Chair of the Biofeedback Certification International Alliance (BCIA), director of its Biofeedback and HRV Biofeedback Task Forces, and member of its Neurofeedback Task Force, and Treasurer for the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback (AAPB).