One of the most interesting applications of psychology — one that has captured the attention of mainstream media quite well — is criminal psychology. So in honor of this topic, I'm going to spend a few blog posts discussing and debunking common myths when it comes to criminal psychology.
Let's start off with something I learned in my eighth grade. My gym teacher told us that people look up to the right ever so slightly before lying. Unfortunately, this isn't the case. It sure would've been a useful indicator. Richard Wiseman tested this theory out a few years ago and found absolutely no correlation between eye movement and lying. Even more surprising was that this misconception was believed by 63% of police and 67% of the general public. And even I fell into that 67% for a while.
If you've ever watched the hit TV show, Prison Break, you'd know how fearful Lincoln Burrows was of the electric chair. It's natural for people to be scared of one of the most brutal punishments under the law. But does that make the death penalty any more of a deterrent of criminal activity? There's absolutely no evidence that shows that the death penalty reduces the occurrence of crimes. 45.5% of police officers were under this misconception as compared to 42.9% of the general public.
Stay tuned for more misconceptions!
Let's start off with something I learned in my eighth grade. My gym teacher told us that people look up to the right ever so slightly before lying. Unfortunately, this isn't the case. It sure would've been a useful indicator. Richard Wiseman tested this theory out a few years ago and found absolutely no correlation between eye movement and lying. Even more surprising was that this misconception was believed by 63% of police and 67% of the general public. And even I fell into that 67% for a while.
If you've ever watched the hit TV show, Prison Break, you'd know how fearful Lincoln Burrows was of the electric chair. It's natural for people to be scared of one of the most brutal punishments under the law. But does that make the death penalty any more of a deterrent of criminal activity? There's absolutely no evidence that shows that the death penalty reduces the occurrence of crimes. 45.5% of police officers were under this misconception as compared to 42.9% of the general public.
Stay tuned for more misconceptions!