Aristide Saggino is an Italian psychologist, psychotherapist, psychometrician, and university professor known for research on psychological testing, intelligence, personality assessment, depression measurement, and evidence-based cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy. He has worked in clinical services, academic psychology, and professional organizations in Italy and abroad.
Background
Aristide Saggino was born in Naples, Italy. His professional formation developed in the intellectual and medical environment of Naples and Rome, where psychology was becoming increasingly connected with clinical services, psychological assessment, and quantitative research.
His early academic interests included aging, memory, personality, death anxiety, and the construction of psychological tests. These subjects later connected his clinical work with research in psychometrics and psychological measurement.
Education
Saggino completed a classical secondary education at the Giuseppe Garibaldi State Classical Lyceum in Naples in 1975 and a teaching-oriented secondary qualification at the Tommaso Campanella Teacher-Training Institute in Naples in 1977. Classical lyceum education in Italy traditionally emphasized humanities and preparation for university study, while teacher-training institutes prepared students for educational work.
In 1979 he received a degree in psychology, with an applied orientation, from the University of Rome La Sapienza. The university, founded in 1303, is one of Europe's historic research institutions and has long been a major center for Italian medicine, psychology, and the social sciences. His degree research examined the effects of institutionalization on the memory and personality of older people.
In 1992 he completed a specialization in clinical psychology at the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of La Sapienza, focusing on individual and group psychotherapy. In 2000 he earned a doctorate in psychology from the Pontifical Salesian University of Rome, whose academic tradition combines psychology, education, philosophy, and the study of human development. His doctoral research examined the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator as a measure of psychological types.
Career
Saggino began his professional career in 1979 as a psychologist at the municipal family counseling service in Casoria, near Naples, while also conducting research at the University of Naples Federico II. Federico II, founded in 1224, is one of the world's oldest public universities and has a long tradition in medicine and scientific research. From 1979 to 1981 he worked at its Institute of Psychology on death anxiety and the Italian validation of Templer's Death Anxiety Scale.
From 1982 to 1986 he worked as a psychologist at the family counseling service of USL No. 26 in Campania. He then served in the mental-health department of the same health authority, first as a staff psychologist from 1986 to 1994 and later as a senior psychologist from 1994 to 2000. Following the reorganization of local health services, USL No. 26 became part of ASL Napoli 3 in 1995. From 2000 to 2001 he was a senior psychologist in the mental-health unit of District 38 of ASL Caserta 2.
Alongside clinical work, Saggino conducted research at La Sapienza from 1985 to 1999 on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, the Wechsler Memory Scale, the Rorschach method, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, and the Stanford-Binet test. He also worked with the Mario Negri Pharmacological Research Institute and the University of Milan on behavioral, neurological, and neuropsychological changes during aging.
His international research included a 1992 study visit to the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh, supported by the Italian National Research Council, and several research fellowships at the University of Exeter in 1994 and 1995. The Exeter work concerned the construction and validation of psychological and personality tests. He later held visiting appointments at the Institute of Psychiatry of the Maudsley Hospital and King's College London between 1998 and 2007, studying personality differences, Eysenck's personality theory, and personality disorders.
Saggino taught at La Sapienza, the Second University of Naples, the University of Padua, and the University of Chieti-Pescara. At the Second University of Naples, he taught psychological research methods, data analysis, and psychological testing from 1996 to 1999. He became an associate professor at the University of Chieti-Pescara in 2001 and was appointed full professor of psychology and psychometrics in 2006. He held the full professorship until his retirement on October 1, 2026. At the university, now known as the University of Studies G. d'Annunzio Chieti-Pescara, he taught psychometrics, psychological testing, research methodology, data analysis, and the psychology of thinking and intellectual abilities.
At the University of Chieti-Pescara he chaired the undergraduate program in psychological sciences from 2005 to 2012, served on doctoral and departmental bodies, and coordinated a section of the psychology department. He has been responsible for the university's Laboratory of Psychometrics and its Laboratory for Research on Cognitive-Behavioral and Evidence-Based Psychotherapy. His research has focused on quantitative measurement, test construction and validation, individual differences, intelligence, psychological assessment, and cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy.
Saggino has also held editorial and academic evaluation roles. He served as associate editor of the Journal of Eclectic and Integrative Psychotherapy from 1992 to 1996, advised the Franco Angeli Linea test series, contributed to editorial boards and scientific committees, and directed a peer-reviewed Franco Angeli series on psychometrics, psychodiagnostics, and individual differences. His academic work includes research on the Teate Depression Inventory, fluid intelligence, occupational stress, personality assessment, and evidence-based psychotherapy.
Achievements
Saggino contributed to the construction and validation of psychological tests, including work on personality assessment, intelligence measurement, memory, the Rorschach method, and the Teate Depression Inventory.
He developed an academic and clinical research program linking psychometrics, individual differences, psychological assessment, and cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy.
He has supervised doctoral research, served on doctoral committees in Italy and abroad, and contributed to the training of psychologists and psychotherapists.
Works
article
Tailored screening for late-life depression: A short version of the Teate Depression Inventory (TDI-E)
(Research article by Marco Balsamo, Aristide Saggino, and ...)
The problematic of death in psychology: Some considerations on anxiety and fear of death
(Article by Domenico Sorrentino and Aristide Saggino on an...)
1982
book
Be a Better You! How to Choose a Psychotherapist
(English-language Kindle book by Aristide Saggino about se...)
2021
Lo stress nei lavoratori bancari. Il questionario Stress Organizzativo e Salute (SOS)
(Co-authored volume presenting the Stress Organizzativo e ...)
2015
Psychotherapy and the Scientific Method: A Critical Analysis
(Book by Aristide Saggino and Alessandro Collevecchio exam...)
2014
book chapter
Fluid intelligence and executive functions: New perspectives
(Chapter by Aristide Saggino, Barbara Perfetti, Giulia Spi...)
2006
manual
TDI—Teate Depression Inventory Manuale
(Manual by Marilena Balsamo and Aristide Saggino describin...)
2013
FIT—Fluid Intelligence Test Manuale
(Manual by Aristide Saggino concerning the Fluid Intellige...)
Views
Saggino's professional writings emphasize the importance of psychological assessment grounded in valid measurement, empirical research, and appropriate statistical methods. His work on cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy and the evaluation of treatment outcomes reflects a view that psychological practice should be examined through scientific evidence rather than through theoretical claims alone.
His research and public academic activity also address the limits of psychological tests, the interpretation of intelligence and personality measures, and the need to distinguish reliable psychological knowledge from unsupported claims. These interests connect his clinical, psychometric, and educational work.
Membership
Saggino has participated in professional and scientific organizations connected with psychology, psychological assessment, psychotherapy, mental-health research, and scientific skepticism. His memberships include the American Psychological Association as a foreign affiliate, the British Psychological Society, the European Association of Psychological Assessment, the Italian Psychological Society, the Italian Association for Behaviour Analysis and Modification and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration, IEPA Early Intervention in Mental Health, CICAP, the Italian Society for Guidance, and the Neapolitan Society of Homeland History.
His professional service has included membership on the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration's advisory board, leadership in the Italian Association for Behaviour Analysis and Modification and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, and the presidency of its national association from 2014 to 2017. He also chaired the Abruzzo-Molise section of CICAP, an Italian organization devoted to critical inquiry and the public understanding of science.
Foreign affiliate.
American Psychological Association
,
United States
European Association of Psychological Assessment
,
Europe
Affiliate.
Italian Psychological Society
,
Italy
Registered member and holder of the Society's clinical psychology equivalence statement.
British Psychological Society
,
United Kingdom
National board member from 2012 to 2014; president from 2014 to 2017; president-elect from 2017.
Italian Association for Behaviour Analysis and Modification and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
,
Italy
Member of the advisory board.
Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration
,
United States
1996 - 1999
Ordinary member and president of the Abruzzo-Molise section.
CICAP
,
Italy
Head of the Abruzzo section.
Italian Society for Guidance
,
Italy
2011 - 2014
IEPA Early Intervention in Mental Health
,
International
Neapolitan Society of Homeland History
,
Italy
Interests
Art, music, and philosophy.
Artists
Art is among Saggino's documented avocations.
Music & Bands
Music is among Saggino's documented avocations.
References
Curriculum Vitae of Aristide Saggino
University curriculum documenting Saggino's education, clinical and academic career, research fellowships, professional memberships, editorial service, awards, and publications.
President of the Italian Association for Behaviour Analysis and Modification and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
Awards
North Atlantic Treaty Organization Senior Fellowship,
United Kingdom
Saggino received a CNR-NATO Senior Fellowship for research at the University of Exeter on the construction and validation of psychological and personality tests.
Saggino received a CNR-NATO Senior Fellowship for research at the University of Exeter on the construction and validation of psychological and personality tests.
Buona Sanità Award,
Italy
He received the award in 2024 for research and public dissemination concerning evidence-based psychotherapies.
He received the award in 2024 for research and public dissemination concerning evidence-based psychotherapies.
