July/August 2004 | Monitor on Psychology
Vol. 35 No. 7
On the Cover: Psychological sleuths
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Criminal profiling: the reality behind the myth
Forensic psychologists are working with law enforcement officials to integrate psychological science into criminal profiling.
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Does profiling really work?
Researchers provided detailed case materials from two solved crimes and asked participants to write profiles of the type of people likely to commit such crimes, then compared the profiles with the actual, convicted offenders.
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Detecting deception
Some research links lying with such facial and bodily cues as increased pupil size and lip pressing but not with blinking or posture.
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The polygraph in doubt
Because of the nature of deception, there is no good way to validate the test for making judgments about criminal behavior.
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How to be a successful fraud
What are the most effective methods for deceiving? What are the key personal and environmental variables for success or failure?
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Accuracy and the accused
Psychologists work with law enforcement on research-based improvements to crime-suspect identification.
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Recommendations for police lineups
Police can create fairer lineups by selecting fillers that fit a witness's description of the perpetrator and instructing witnesses that the person who committed the crime may not be in the lineup.
SCIENCE WATCH
The hippocampus may not be the only association creating part of the brain, new research suggests.
IN BRIEF
- Publication educates physicians about anxiety disorders
- Women who succeed in male-dominated careers are often seen negatively, suggests study
- Psychological science offers clues to Iraqi prisoner abuse
- New Mexico closing in on RxP implementation
- Standing tall pays off, study finds
- Online bidders want upfront rules
- Day of adoption affects behavior of rat pups and dams
- Rats display stable temperamental traits
- Survey says: More Americans are seeking mental health treatment
- Friendships ease middle school adjustment
- Report on ethical research with children released
Features
Research suggests caffeine, prized for its alertness effects, might cause people tip-of-the-tongue moments when they recall unrelated words.
Psychologists craft systems to lessen the mental strains astronauts might face 100 million miles away from earth.
Psychologists joined other experts to discuss ways to change our environment to reduce obesity.
Psychologists, designers and sisters Susan Painter and Constance Forrest draw on their unique background to create user-friendly living and working spaces.
APA Practice Directorate-nominated HHS fellow Garret Evans is working to promote psychology's role in public health care.
APA member testifies to the Institute of Medicine on ways to improve behavioral health access and quality.
Combat mental health care leaves troops in need, finds a recent Army survey. The Army has made some adjustments based on the findings.
Firefighters, psychologists and other community professionals work together to extinguish juvenile fire-setting.
After years of planning, researchers in psychology and occupational safety and health will launch a new society for the field.
APA's I/O division is working to attract more ethnic-minority young scientists.
Psychologist Lily Kelly-Radford is proof positive that a high-powered career and family life can co-exist.
From videotapes to computer-simulated patients, new and old technologies are helping graduate psychology programs train the next generation of psychologists.
A meeting of North American psychologists highlights international changes in professional psychology.
Recent research suggests sleep spindles--spikes of neural activity that emerge during REM sleep--might play a key role in helping people learn and remember how to perform physical tasks, such as swinging a golf club.
A new classification of positive personality traits paves the way for further research and implementation of the subfield.
A CLOSER LOOK
This month, Div. 38 launches a series of professional development workshops to keep health psychologists on the cutting-edge.
PUBLIC POLICY UPDATE
Through APA's Congressional Fellowship Program, five psychologists are learning the ins and outs of Capitol Hill.
CORRECTIONS
COLUMNS
From the CEO
Judicial Notebook
President's Column
Professional Point
Shared Perspectives
Speaking of Education