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Psychology and the Law: A Special Issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science
Legal systems are necessary in any functioning society. Centuries ago, people realized that the only way to maintain a peaceful community was to develop a firm set of rules—laws—to punish transgressors. As laws have continued to evolve in societies around the world, psychological scientists have begun to investigate the psychological basis of many aspects of legal systems. A new special issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, presents the current state of research on psychology and law.
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New Research From Psychological Science
On the Strength of Connections Between Localist Mental Modules as a Source of Frequency-of-Occurrence Effects Shannon O’Malley, Derek Besner, and Sarah Moroz How do people become familiar with items and events that appear frequently in their lives? To test potential mechanisms, the reaction times to numerical stimuli presented in either Arabic numerals (the more frequent form in which numbers are presented) or words (less frequent) were compared in different tasks. There was a difference in the reaction times between the two formats for a parity judgment task (in which participants indicated whether a number was odd or even) but not for a test in which participants read each stimulus aloud.
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Lie Detection: Misconceptions, Pitfalls, and Opportunities for Improvement
Researchers discuss some of the common misconceptions about people proficient in the art of deception, and reviews the shortcomings of commonly used lie-detection techniques.
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Dial ‘5683’ for Love: Dialing Certain Numbers on a Cell Phone Changes Your Emotional State
A psychological scientist in Germany has found a way that cell phones, and specifically texting, have hacked into our brains. Just by typing the numbers that correspond to the letters in a word like "love," we can activate the meaning of that word in our minds. The results are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. For the study, Sascha Topolinski and his students at the University of Würzburg in Germany created a list of German words that can be typed on a cell phone keypad without typing the same digit twice in a row. Also, each number combination could spell only one word.
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‘Was Doing’ Versus ‘Did’: Verbs Matter When Judging Other People’s Intentions
Your English teacher wasn't kidding: Grammar really does matter. The verb form used to describe an action can affect how the action is perceived—and these subtle variations could mean the difference between an innocent or guilty verdict in criminal law, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. William Hart, of the University of Alabama, was inspired to conduct the study by research on how people think about narratives.
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Got a Goal? A Helpful Partner Isn’t Always Helpful
Thinking about the support a significant other offers in pursuing goals can undermine the motivation to work toward those goals.