Member/Author: Christiane Gelitz On television, it all looks so simple. For a fraction of a second, the suspect raises the corner of his mouth. He is happy because he thinks the investigators are wrong about where he planted the bomb. But when his interrogator mentions the correct place, the terrorist’s More
“Exactly how you’d expect a guilty person to act.” “Moving and credible.” “So coached and so rehearsed.” “Simply tremendous.” These are all reactions to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s testimony on Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, a set of responses that put on full display just how differently people More
In research published in Psychological Science in 2014, psychological scientists Leanne ten Brinke and colleagues presented studies suggesting that people are able to detect lies on an unconscious level even if they can’t detect them consciously. But, in a new commentary published in Psychological Science, researchers Volker Franz and Ulrike More
The idea of admitting to a crime you didn’t commit seems inconceivable to most people. Take the Central Park Five: teenagers who confessed to raping a jogger in New York City’s Central Park in 1989, quickly recanted, but still went to jail. DNA evidence exonerated them in 2002. Illogical as More
The psychological factors that play into the criminal justice system, from police interrogations to jury verdicts and sentencing decisions, were highlighted in a cross-cutting theme program at the APS Annual Convention in New York City. The session included a look at myths and facts about psychopathic traits in children, flawed More
Chris Matthews, who hosts the MSNBC news program Hardball, is convinced that torture works. In the last two days, in the wake of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s damning report on CIA interrogation practices, he has allowed that so-called “enhanced interrogation” may be illegal and immoral, but he keeps reiterating versions More
