Nearly two months after the body of missing Florida 13-year-old Madeline Soto was officially recovered, Stephan Sterns – the man considered the prime suspect in the case – was charged with first-degree murder. FEBRUARY 26 Madeline Soto was reported missing around 8 p.m. after Stephan Sterns – her mother’s boyfriend, reportedly dropped her off near […]
Madeline Soto – Tragic Life and Death Read Post »
One of the most famous studies of obedience in psychology was carried out by Stanley Milgram, a psychologist at Yale University. He conducted an experiment focusing on the conflict between obedience to authority and personal conscience. The experiments began in July 1961. Milgram was interested in researching how far people would go in obeying an
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In 1951 Solomon Asch conducted an experiment to investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform. Asch used a lab experiment to study conformity, whereby 50 male students in the USA participated in a ‘‘vision test’’. He told them it was a vision test. Asch put
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“According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.” Jerry Seinfeld The vast majority of people rank fear of public speaking as number
Psychologist Elizabeth Loftus has been particularly concerned with how subsequent information can affect an eyewitness’s account of an event. Loftus’ findings indicate that memory for an event that has been witnessed is highly flexible. If someone is exposed to new information during the interval between witnessing the event and recalling it, this new information may
Elizabeth Loftus and Palmer (1974) – False Memory Read Post »
Leon Festinger Cognitive dissonance was first investigated by Leon Festinger, arising out of a participant observation study of a cult which believed that the earth was going to be destroyed by a flood, and what happened to its members – particularly the really committed ones who had given up their homes and jobs to work
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The level of accuracy of a lie detector depends on whom you talk to about it. Both sides of the argument have the same research to look at, but they come to very different conclusions. The lie detector test (or polygraph, to give its official name) is a fascinating topic. Did you know that the term “lie detector” is
Psychology, Biology Or Both The term bystander effect refers to the tendency for people to be inactive in high danger situations due to the presence of other bystanders. Thus, people tend to help more when alone than in a group. The implications for this theory have been widely studied by a variety of researchers, but
During the fall 2022 semester, five female University of Idaho students lived in a rented off-campus residence in the rural college town of Moscow, Idaho. The three-story home had six bedrooms, two on each floor.There had not been a murder in the city since 2015. In the early morning of November 13, 2022, four University of Idaho
University of Idaho Killings Read Post »
Mary Bell’s note The police dismissed this incident. Four days later, Mary Bell appeared at the Brown’s residence, asking to see Martin, reminded of the tragedy. She told his grieving mother: “Oh, I know he’s dead. I wanted to see him in his coffin.“ Also, she had developed a reputation as a “show off”, so
Mary Bell, 10-year-old, Serial Murderer Read Post »