after a b.a. in psychology from u.c.l.a. and an m.a. in psychology from california state university at los angeles, berliner received a ph.d. in educational psychology from the stanford graduate school of education. he also was awarded doctorates of humane letters, honoris causa, from the university of massachusetts amherst and from manhattanville college. he is the father of bethann berliner, a senior researcher at wested and also the father of brett a. berliner, a professor of history at morgan state university and author of "ambivalent desire: the exotic black other in jazz age france".