BSJ

The Butler Scholarly Journal

Category: Psychology

  1. Investigating the effect of gaze on different facial targets on verbal accuracy and response bias.

    The act of looking is both a source of stimulation and a type of response, and as humans are social animals, in general we try to discriminate the postures and movements of the eyes of another person in social interactions for example, in nonverbal communication (Gibson, J. J., & Pick, A. D.,1963). Gaze is a key type of nonverbal communication that has many roles in social interaction. Interaction is a mutual reference in the behaviour of social partners, and communication is the exchange of messages in a communication system consisting partners and a mutual code, that being a result of…

  2. The impact of time on the accuracy of eyewitness memory

    Eyewitness testimony is a statement given by people after they witness an occurrence (McLeod, 1970), and is often used in court cases to identify a suspect, or to recount information experienced during an event. This testimony is vital as it may turn a verdict in a court case: it may be one of the strongest pieces of evidence to support an explanation of the event, and this recount is still used as a reliable source of the witness’ memory of the occurrence. Hugo Münsterberg first recognised the unreliability of eyewitness testimony and noted that a witness is expected to recall…

  3. The differences in the perceived causes of binge drinking of students living in the UK for more or less than two years

    A study by Haines and Spear in 2010 indicated that over a 5-year period in a college in Illinois, a media campaign with an aim to change students’ views regarding binge drinking was seen to be the cause of an almost 19% decrease in the number of students viewing binge drinking as a norm, resulting in a 9% decrease in binge drinking overall from students. On the other hand, surely there must be other factors that alter students’ perceptions of the causes of binge drinking just as strongly as social norms, however they may be more subtle and less talked…

  4. Identity and Emergence: A Radical Relationship

    The most useful piece of learning for the uses of life is to unlearn what is untrue – Antisthenes Throughout the twentieth century the social sciences underwent a shift toward symbolic and cultural studies, which placed the issue of identity at the core of these disciplines. The dismissal of identity as an essential property rooted in stable characteristics led scholars to focus on the social processes through which the self emerges, and the factors involved in them. Although this paradigmatic shift might seem obvious nowadays, it has had, and still has, profound and radical consequences in regards to how the…

  5. Social policy and evidence-based practice: Ne’er the Twain shall meet?

    Much like two pandas in a zoo, science and the law can often be reluctant bedfellows, to the detriment of quality output; be it informed policies or baby bears. Often it would appear that the law is in stark contrast with what research has shown to be effective, resulting in a system that fails many who pass through it. One such example is the employment of a youth justice system that has been shown to actively increase risk of reoffending in youths rather than reducing it. Youth offenders institutions act on the belief that the best way to deal with…

  6. A Critical Look at Video Games: a reinforcement of dominant ideologies or an emancipatory force for change?

    In an increasingly complex, interconnected and technological world, a plethora of debates surrounding the effects of technology and its implications are making their way into everyday life. The increasing prevalence of ocularcentrism, whereby the dominance of the visual is infiltrating and saturating every aspect of postmodern society (Rose, 2001), means that new media forms are contributing to ‘expanding geographic imaginaries’ (Ash et al, 2009: 472) serving as ideologically loaded representations of the world in which we live. In particular, as an increasingly prevalent media form within our postmodern, ocularcentric society, video games are often saturated with stereotypes, illusions, reproductions, imitations…

  7. ‘On being sane in insane places’

    In 1973, psychologist David Rosenhan published a paper documenting a study that was to radically change perceptions of the diagnosis of mental illness.  The study, named “On Being Sane in Insane Places”, recorded the experiences of eight clinically sane participants, who gained entry to psychiatric hospitals by reporting that they had been hearing a voice in their heads saying “thud”. Participants, after being admitted, were subsequently instructed to act as normal, and report no further auditory hallucinations. What occurred thereafter would have serious implications for the mental health system of that time.  All of the pseudo-patients were taken in, and…