Tag Archives: psychology

Putting Eyewitness Testimony to the Test

memory recall eyewitness testimony

Since the discovery of DNA profiling in the mid 1980’s, there have been over 300 criminal exonerations in the USA alone. That’s over 300 innocent people imprisoned for a crime they did not commit. Studies in the USA have also shown that approximately 73% of these convictions incorporated eyewitness testimony as the primary piece of evidence in their respective cases. Continue reading

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Major Psychological Schools of Thought

psychology logo“Psychology has a long past but only a short history.” With these few words, Hermann Ebbinghaus, one of the great thinkers in psychology, aptly captured the essence of this field’s development. Since time immemorial, men and women have pondered over questions that are psychological in nature. From the early Egyptians to the ancient Greek philosophers, there has been no letup in efforts to understand human thought and behavior. If you were given a psychology homework assignment to document the full history of the field, you would probably be toiling on it for ages. Yet, in spite of its long past, the formal history of psychology dates back only 133 years to 1879 – the year when Wilhelm Wundt opened the doors of the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany. As a result of this significant move, Wundt is widely regarded as the founder of psychology. He was also the first person to refer to himself as a psychologist. Yet, this was just the beginning of Wundt’s contributions to the field. He went on to become the first of several spirited speakers to engage in an ongoing debate over what should be the focus of psychology. The history of psychology is indeed short, but it has never been short of drama. With that said, let the drama unfold… Continue reading

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Believe it or Not! – Linkhouse

chewing gum

Stress relief is fruit flavored

Chewing Gum May Reduce Stress

At least, that’s what the results of a recent UK study suggest. In a controlled lab experiment with 40 persons, Scholey and his colleagues examined whether chewing gum is capable of reducing induced anxiety and stress while participants performed various multitasking activities (Scholey, Robertson, Haskell, Milne & Kennedy, 2007). Results revealed that gum chewers experienced significantly higher levels of alertness and lower levels of state anxiety, stress, and salivary cortisol. The chewing gum condition was also associated with better performance on the multitasking activities. Improved cerebral blood flow during gum chewing was cited as a possible explanation for these findings.

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