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Wednesday, December 11, 2019

A Skeptics Approach to the Lion Diet

The Peterson’s “Lion Diet”

Introduction

Our globalized, post-modern society is gradually losing trust in the medical field, as shown by an increasing amount of lawsuits and litigations against health professionals (Choy & Ismail, 2017). This can be seen by a rising amount of people turning to complementary and alternative medicine to alleviate distress from ineffective medical treatments and to feel that they are in control of their disease (Ernst, 2001). Along with CAM, there has been a rise of vegetarian and vegan diets, and many other questionable diets (Riley, 2004). One of these diets, the carnivore diet, (aka the lion diet”) is the polar opposite of veganism, where people only eat meat, eggs and small amounts of low-lactose dairy products and drastically avoid other foods, especially carbohydrates, fruits and vegetables (Streit, 2019). People who follow this diet often consider themselves “anti-fiber” and “cholesterol deniers”, claiming that LDL cholesterol levels do not increase the risk for cardiovascular diseases. The less extreme version of this diet is the popular ketogenetic diet, where people eat only meat and animal products high in fat, some vegetables and avoid carbohydrates at all costs. Proponents of the keto diet hinge on the fact that this diet puts the body in a state of ketosis, a metabolic process that burns fat because there are no carbohydrates to burn (Likhodii et al., 2005). There are also claims that it reduces the amount of seizures in epileptic individuals, which has been found to be true in randomized controlled trials in children (Neal et al., 2008).

One of the major proponents of the lion diet is Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson along with his daughter Mikhaila Peterson. Peterson is a famous and controversial psychologist with a huge online fanbase and is considered to be one of the most-read Canadian authors. Mikhaila, frontwoman for this fad, says she is in remission from juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and depression all thanks to the “lion diet”. She claims that “many (if not most) health problems are treatable with diet alone” on her blog called “Don’t Eat That” (Peterson, 2016). Jordan Peterson was trained as a clinical psychologist with Jungian and Nietzschean influences, but he often dabbles with philosophical and political claims. This led to a rise of fans who come from the alt-right who champion his arguably anti-politically correctness, sexist and transphobic remarks. As seen in today’s political climate, people on the extremes of the political compass, are very prone to partisan bias, advocating for everything their party stands for. This environment of political tribalism creates the perfect internet groupthink barrier protecting this pseudoscientific diet from any attacks.

The carnivore diet in the media

There is a lot more media coverage of this diet when compared to actual scientific reviews about it. While the science is little, there are multiple websites such as Healthline, Women’s Health, Daily Mail that indicate the diet’s anti-inflammatory properties, as well as their effects on weight loss, depression, anxiety, arthritis, diabetes and obesity (Streit, 2019). Very few of these news outlets cite articles from proper journals, and when they do, the interpretations of the findings are exaggerated or completely distorted. This can be seen in a Healthline article (Mammoser, 2013), where the author claims that the less extreme keto diet “had reduced both anxious and depressive behavior”. However, the paper they cite is a review of 15 studies which says: (a) studies were done on animals and therefore had limited generalizability, (b) there were issues of compliance of the rigid diet in humans, (c) small sample sizes, (d) no control groups for placebo effects, (e) adverse consequences such as kidney stones and (f) insufficient evidence that the diet had any effects on anxiety, depression, autism spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (Bostock, Kirkby & Taylor, 2017). Interestingly, the carnivore diet is so far removed from the average person’s diet that only its name can be used as a click bait from websites. The word carnivore brings lots of pictures to mind such as images of predators, bloody steaks and of nature. This triggers our emotions kicking in our affect heuristic where consumers will either feel disgusted or intrigued by this diet, quickly coming to conclusions about it. The amount that media covers people who claim a meat-only diet changes their lives or cured their diseases is worrisome. However, as per the media paradox (Ruscio, 2000), the media loves to portray rare and attention grabbing stories, when in reality they are not as common as how often they are represented. It is important to note that a possible reason for the popularity and acceptance of extreme diets like these could be the advent of social media and people’s attack to their self-image, where they will take drastic measures to improve their appearance.

The Petersons

The role of the Peterson family in the promulgation of this diet is crucial. Due to Peterson’s very confined group of fans with interknitting ideals, any attempts to disconfirm this diet would be ineffective. This is because it is seen as a threat to their identity rather than just one of their own beliefs. An explanation for their exponential reaction to attacks can be explained by identity- protective cognition (Kahan et al., 2007), a form of motivated reasoning that protects pieces that comprise our identity. This also accounts for the “white male effect” (which happens to be the demographic of the majority of Peterson’s fans), where white males are more likely to perceive risk than females and minorities. This type of cognition alleviates the cognitive dissonance that would be felt if they were to challenge something that Peterson said. Accepting the ambiguousness of this diet would dismantle their vision of Peterson as an all-knowing agent and destroy their use of the confidence heuristic, as he would not be seen as being confidently correct about everything. This is part of their blind conformity to extreme ideals, where dissent is suppressed and their inherent morality is upheld. Another effect in action here is the “hostile media effect” (Vallone & Lepper, 1985), where partisans believe that media is biased against their side, when in reality they are not. Arguments for the carnivore diet

The carnivore diet worked very well with the Peterson’s; Jordan and Mikhaila both overcame depression solely thanks to their food. There are very few success stories like theirs and none of them have been corroborated by science. As per the law of small numbers, a small sample is not more representative than a larger sample (Tversky & Kahneman, 1971).

It is very hard to find medical articles praising the meat-only diet so in the next paragraph I will talk about benefits from the ketogenetic diet. Keto diets have been found to be very effective for rapid weight loss (Masood & Uppaluri, 2019), as an antiepileptic in randomized controlled trials (Neal et al., 2008) and as treatment for some inflammation-induced encephalopathies (Dupuis, Curatolo, Benoist & Auvin, 2015). Interestingly, it has been found that keto diets offer neuroprotection for Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in mice (Yang & Cheng, 2010). A lot of carnivore diet proponents say that humans are apex predators, meaning that we have always been primary consumers of meat. It has also been found that high- protein diets improve reaction time versus usual diets (Jakobsen et al., 2011). Archeology and evolutionary biology have shown that we have been eating meat for the past two million years, slowly adapting our genome and physiology to diets high in lean meat (Mann, 2000).

A very interesting study done by F. Leroy and colleagues showed the impact of media discourse on the role of meat in the 21st century (Leroy, Brengman, Ryckbosch & Scholliers, 2018). They used The Daily Mail as a case study and found that during moments of crisis (such as mad cow disease or the avian flu) there were conflicting news items sometimes reassuring the public with the benefits of a meat-rich diet for weight control. They also found that most of the narratives displayed contradictions and the majority of the times meat’s positive connotations of strength, vitality and fertility were often confirmed or disconfirmed through medicalization using studies. The discourse was primarily controlled by dieticians, the food industry, vegetarian movements and celebrities. This shows how easily the media can control the narrative in moments of crisis and when fad diets appear.
There are various fallacies and biases that should be taken into account when looking at the
Peterson’s public involvement with the diet. Firstly, we must never diminish the veracity of an argument because of the attributes of a person’s nature, this is known as the ad hominem fallacy. It should not matter what we think about Jordan Peterson when assessing the veracity of his claims. Secondly, we must not make the mistake to believe that the carnivore diet is associated with cardio vascular diseases and cancer just because red meat is (Pan et al., 2012). When looking at this without evidence this can lead us to misuse the representativeness heuristic. Even if the carnivore diet did have harmful results, we must not make the logical fallacy of creating an argument from adverse consequences.

Arguments against the carnivore diet

As mentioned before, red meat consumption is associated with cardiovascular diseases and cancer mortality (Pan et al., 2012). Studies have found that meat intake can interact with genetic susceptibility to colorectal cancer, increasing incidence from 0.15 to 0.48 (Ognjanovic, Yamamoto, Maskarinec & Marchand, 2006). The evidence for the adverse effect of excessive meat consumption is clear, maintaining a normal intake of meat along with a high consumption of vegetables, fruits and antioxidant foods seems to be the best for health and longevity (Trichopoulou & Vasilopoulou, 2000).

The claims that the Peterson’s make that their diet is what cured their pathologies needs more evidence to be convincing. This is in line with Hume’s Maxim: that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Their gullibility to their own claims, might be explained by naïve realism, where an individual believes that what they perceive corresponds to their accurate reality. Many diseases get better over time, as they regress back to the mean, without any outside intervention. Certain changes in mental health due to ineffective diets could also be explained by novelty effects, placebo effects and the need to justify all the effort needed to follow a diet.

Conclusion

Mikhaila Peterson’s claims that “many (if not most) health problems are treatable with diet alone” and that you can “heal yourself with diet” are pseudoscientific. Not only is the claim that many health problems are treatable with diets unfalsifiable because it is too broad, but it lacks any boundary conditions. Most carnivore diet emphasize “success stories”, or anecdotal evidence, disregarding any refuting evidence such as failure stories. These are all signs of pseudoscience. Pseudoscience can trick anyone, from bodybuilders to successful psychologists like Jordan Peterson. While it is one thing to partake in diets privately, it is another to promote detrimental diets that have not been corroborated by science to thousands of people. Nevertheless, we must never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity (Bloch, 1986).

References

Hei, C. H., Ismail, A., & Ismail, A. (2017). Indicators for Medical Mistrust in HealthcareA Review and Standpoint from Southeast Asia. Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences, 24(6), 520. doi: 10.21315/mjms2017.24.6.2
Ernst, E. (2001). Rise in popularity of complementary and alternative medicine: reasons and consequences for vaccination. Vaccine, 20. doi: 10.1016/s0264-410x(01)00290-0
Riley, M. (2004). The Rise of Vegetarianism. Nutrition & Dietetics: The Journal of the Dietitians Association of Australia, 61(1), 9. doi: GALE|A116924433
Streit, L. (2019, August 26). Carnivore (All-Meat) Diet. Retrieved December 11, 2019, from https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/carnivore-diet.
Likhodii, S. S., Musa, K., Mendonca, A., Dell, C., Burnham, W. M. I., & Cunnane, S. C. (2005, August 2). Dietary Fat, Ketosis, and Seizure Resistance in Rats on the Ketogenic Diet. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1528-1157.2000.tb00115.x.
Neal, E. G., Chaffe, H., Schwartz, R. H., Lawson, M. S., Edwards, N
., Fitzsimmons, G., ... Cross, J. H. (2008, May 2). The ketogenic diet for the treatment of childhood epilepsy: a randomised controlled trial. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1474442208700929.
Peterson, M. (2016, December 7). Don’t Eat That. Retrieved from https://mikhailapeterson.com/about-me/
Mammoser, G. (2018, June 3). Autoimmune Diseases and Meat-Only Diet. Retrieved October 29, 2019, from https://www.healthline.com/health-news/meat-only-diet-eased-autoimmune- disease-symptoms#1.
Bostock, E. C. S., Kirkby, K. C., & Taylor, B. V. M. (2017, March 20). The Current Status of the Ketogenic Diet in Psychiatry. Retrieved December 11, 2019, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5357645/.
Ruscio, J. (2000). Risky business: Vividness, availability, and the media paradox. Skeptical Inquirer, 24(2), 22-26. [Reprinted in Nisbet, L. (Ed.) (2001). The gun control debate: You decide (pp. 167-174). Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books.]
Kahan, D. M., Braman, D., Gastil, J., Slovic, P., & Mertz, C. K. (2007). Culture and Identity- Protective Cognition: Explaining the White-Male Effect in Risk Perception. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, 4(3), 465505. doi: 10.1111/j.1740-1461.2007.00097.x
Vallone, R. P., Ross, L., & Lepper, M. R. (1985). The hostile media phenomenon: Biased perception and perceptions of media bias in coverage of the Beirut massacre. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 49(3), 577585. https://doi- org.proxy.library.emory.edu/10.1037/0022-3514.49.3.577
Masood, W., & Uppaluri, K. (2019). Ketogenetic Diet. StatPearls Publishing LLC. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK499830/
Dupuis, N., Curatolo, N., Benoist, J.-F., & Auvin, S. (2015). Ketogenic diet exhibits anti- inflammatory properties. Epilepsia, 56(7). doi: 10.1111/epi.13038
Yang, X., & Cheng, B. (2010, October). Neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory activities of ketogenic diet on MPTP-induced neurotoxicity. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20333481.
Mann, N. (2000, April). Dietary lean red meat and human evolution. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10918988.
Leroy, F., Brengman, M., Ryckbosch, W., & Scholliers, P. (2018). Meat in the post-truth era: Mass media discourses on health and disease in the attention economy. Appetite, 125, 345355. https://doi-org.proxy.library.emory.edu/10.1016/j.appet.2018.02.028
Pan A, Sun Q, Bernstein AM, et al. (2012). Red Meat Consumption and Mortality: Results From 2 Prospective Cohort Studies. Arch Intern Med. 2012;172(7):555563. doi:https://doi.org/10.1001/archinternmed.2011.2287
Ognjanovic, S., Yamamoto, J., Maskarinec, G., & Marchand, L. L. (2006). NAT2, meat consumption and colorectal cancer incidence: an ecological study among 27 countries. Cancer Causes & Control, 17(9), 11751182. doi: 10.1007/s10552-006-0061-3
Jakobsen, L. H., Kondrup, J., Zellner, M., Tetens, I., & Roth, E. (2011). Effect of a high protein meat diet on muscle and cognitive functions: A randomised controlled dietary intervention trial in healthy men. Clinical Nutrition, 30(3), 303311. doi: 10.1016/j.clnu.2010.12.010
Trichopoulou, A., & Vasilopoulou, E. (2000). Mediterranean diet and longevity. British Journal of Nutrition, 84(S2), S205-S209. doi:10.1079/09658219738855
Bloch, A. (1986). Murphys law, book two ; more reasons why things go wrong! Price/Stern/Sloan.

Sofia Wolfson
Emory University
University of Miami

Friday, March 8, 2019

False Confessions

A false confession is the act of admitting to a crime that the accused is not guilty of.

They are one of the leading causes for wrongful convictions in America. In fact, 20 to 25% of people exonerated by DNA analysis had admitted to a crime they did not commit (White, 2003). It is important to note the taxonomy proposed by Kassin & Wrightsman, that puts forward three types of confessions: voluntary, where a person confesses under no influence of external pressures, coerced-compliant, where the subject confesses only to escape an aversive interrogation, to avoid threat or harm, or to perceive benefits and finally coerced-internalized, where the subject genuinely believes they are guilty of the offense (Kassin & Wrightsman 1985). Rogers and Mitchell (1991) noted that one who gives a voluntary confession must have an operating mind that appreciates the consequences of their act, only in cases where they do not have an operating mind then the statement is inadmissible in court.

A confession is, if not the most, powerful weapon for the prosecution. In criminal law, the exoneree falsely confesses if (1) he or she made a false statement to authorities which was treated as a confession, (2) the authorities claimed that the exoneree made such a statement but the exoneree denied it, or (3) the exoneree made a statement that was not an admission of guilt, but was misinterpreted as such by the authorities. The first instance of false confessions can be traced back to the 1936 case of Brown v. Mississippi. This rule created the law that an involuntary confession coerced by police hostility cannot be admissible as evidence. A coerced confession violates the Due Process Clause, which says the state must respect all legal rights of a person, of the 14th amendment.

In psychology the first mention of false confessions was in Munsterberg’s (1908) classical book “On the Witness Stand”, even though this problem has long been recognized the mechanisms and the extent of the problem were unclear. Philip Zimbardo (1967) was one of the first to provide a social psychological perspective, stating that a false confession mitigated by police is nothing more than a result of police incompetence and police viciousness. According to Kassin (2008) there are three processes that lead to false confessions. Firstly police tend to target innocent people due to judgement errors of truth and deception. Secondly, innocent people confess as a result of aggressive interrogation tactics. Thirdly, jurors tend to discredit confessions even if they appear to be coerced. The last point is fundamental as it is directly linked to the evaluation process that determines whether a confession is forced or not.

Kassin (2014) found that the risk of a false confession is higher for impressionable subjects such as juveniles or people with cognitive impairments. Through the use of lawful interrogation tactics such as lengthy isolation, lies about evidence and minimization tactics that imply leniency.

Research

Whereas in high profile cases people tend to falsely confess without coercion (voluntary 
false confessions) in order to receive attention, self-punishment, to protect another person or for tangible gain (Kassim, 2008), people are usually coerced during an interrogation leading to a coerced compliant confession. It is counter intuitive for a person to falsely confess to a crime, but this discrepancy can be explained by conformity and obedience studies, such as the Milgram (1967) studies where social influence was high enough for people to inflict 400v shocks to others. According to the Criminal Interrogations and Confessions there are specific techniques taught to enforcement agencies for interrogation to obtain confessions (Inbau, 2013). This manual excessively tells readers to rely on the understanding behavioral attitudes, verbal and non-verbal cues. In a study performed by Kassin & Fong (1999) they found that students could not distinguish between videos of innocent and guilty defendants, and when they repeated the study with detectives once again they found similar results as they were also influenced by first impressions and were seen making incorrect prejudgments of guilt.

So why are innocent people targeted? Innocence in itself can be an important cause as a genuine suspect will waive their Miranda rights and talk to the officer, believing that nothing can be used against them because they are innocent. The common thought process that happens here is that the suspect truly believes that truth and justice will prevail and that no matter what they say it will not be used against them because they know that they are innocent. In some cases the presumption of guilt is made when a suspect under investigation flees, even if they are innocent, creating this presumption.

Other systems such as effects of reward and punishment, human decision making, memory and forgetting, self-regulation, social influence, social perception, childhood and adolescence, personality and psychopathology (Kassin, 2014). Even the definition of guilt canbe linked to obedience and power dynamics as it is the “guilt-presumptive social interaction led by an authority figure” (Eades, 2010).

The psychoanalytical perspective suggests that false confessions are made due to the unconscious, compulsive need to confess, where the confession itself gratifies the need for punishment (Reik, 1959). Other needs that can be fulfilled by falsely confessing are those for attention, which Note (1953) coined as a “morbid desire for notoriety”.

Kassin (1997) found that coerced-internalized confessions strongly depend on the preying of a suspect who is vulnerable and highly suggestible. Such individuals are triggered by the presentation of false evidence. People who are more susceptible to suggestions from police tend to have lower intelligence, poor memories, low self-esteem and high anxiety. (Gudjonsson, 1991).

Some groups of people have been shown to confess more commonly than others: youth, intellectually disabled and people with disorders such as autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, depression or are delusional (Gudjonsson, 2003) Although studies showing incidence between juvenile trials and confessions have not been made, many researchers have assumed these two come hand in hand. This can be due to the immaturity of judgement that they show and can be seen in the way that they lack impulse control, delaying gratification and discounting methods for delaying these rewards.

Suggestions on which personalities are most likely to confess have been made focusing on the personality traits that would make them more likely to comply under this kind of pressure. In fact it has been shown that males and Asians have higher levels of the compliance trait and therefore are more likely to confess to crimes they did not commit (Klaver, 2008).

It is very important to understand the coercion that is used to extract a confession and how it influences a suspect’s behavior. Kassin et al. (2007) found that the top interrogation techniques used by North American detectives are (in descending order): isolation from family and friends, doing the interrogation in a small room, finding contradictions in their story, gaining the subject’s trust or using evidence of guilt. Other techniques that may be used are sleep and food deprivation, sensory discomfort and threats. The Supreme Court determined in the Chambers v Florida (1940) that physical violence can even include five days of prolonged questioning and that this would lead to the confessions being unreliable.

According to the manual of interrogations used by police (Inbau & Reid, 1967) the subject must be confined to an unfamiliar room, with no windows, noise or things (except for two chairs and a table). The officer should create a sense of friendship even by minimizing the crime. The difference between minimization and maximization techniques is very important and its effects are well understood by interrogators.

Maximization techniques involve making all kinds of accusations such as interpreting denials, overriding objections and using misleading evidence (Kassin, 2014) This tactic is all used to remind the suspect that his denial is superfluous and that he is unquestionably guilty. Minimization techniques are the complete opposite as they provide a safety net for the accused. The officer might try to suggest justifications for the act (such as outside pressure, mitigating circumstances, provocations), or they might also provide compassion and understanding. This causes the suspect to lower his guard and to minimize the situation in relation to its actual seriousness making a confession seem less important/ justified than it actually is. Finally the officer may ask the suspect to repeat the story over and over again until the “suspect may come to believe that he was the central actor in the crime” (Driver, 1968).

The courts in America are based on an adversarial system, prosecutors are not searching for truth but looking to win their case. Because of this they are more likely to use deceiving techniques or even produce false new evidence. This type of deceit can alter people’s perceptions, beliefs, memories and behaviors (Kassin, 2014).

A final key aspect of false confessions, is how people tend to not discredit them. This is due to the false attribution error. This is the tendency to attribute someone’s behavior to internal causes, rather than external (situational) causes. This can be seen in trials, because as soon as a litigator adds a confession, the jury will be overwhelmed and will see this as the most powerful piece of evidence. For the majority of the population, which we can see represented in jurors, a false confessions seems impossible improbable due to common sense.

Summary

A confession is the most powerful tool that the litigator can have against someone. This is because of the fundamental attribution error. The three types of confessions, voluntary, coerced- compliant and coerced-internalized usually all have different explanations behind them. Whereas voluntary confessions are usually given by an operating mind without any coercion, coerced confessions are a product of external factors. These factors are usually caused by incompetent and vicious law enforcement. Innocent people are often targets because they believe that the truth will prevail. Power dynamics have an important part in extracting a confession, especially when the subject is much more vulnerable.

There are many risk factors such as age, intelligence, personality types and people with psychological disorders such as autism, ADHD, anxiety, depression or that experience delusions.

There are many strategies and manuals regarding how to extract a confession that involve sensory deprivation, isolation, false evidence and maximization and minimization techniques. The use of these, sometimes unethical tactics, is only exacerbated by the adversarial nature of the American judicial system which encourages people to use all possible means to win.

Recommendations

One of the first things that comes to mind is that there should be more experts involved in evaluating these confessions, the law should require them to be the deciding voice on evaluations and the veracity of the confession. More should be done other than just testifying in courts, such as assisting law makers in changing interrogation tactics (possibly making certain ones illegal) as well as the way that they influence the legal process.

There are many other parts of the interrogation process that are legal today that should be banned. This would help reduce the amount of false confessions. For example police officers should limit the duration of interrogations or provide substantial breaks during the process. Secondly, there should be no promises of leniency, such as if the subject confesses they will not be charged. This brings me to the third point which is lying and deceit.
Police officers can lie about many things such as leniency, who they are (in set-up confessions with actors) and what evidence they have. This is especially important in cases where the accused is more fragile and susceptible and just hinting that there is in confoundable evidence against them that would lead to a false coerced-internalized confession. For example cases where the suspect was induced to think that they had had amnesia during the act. Instances of this kind of deceit should be made illegal as they are going to target mostly fragile people who, in my opinion, are even less likely to have committed the crime and more likely to give a coerced-internalized confession. Finally, judges should ask for support from legal and forensic experts when deciding whether to admit a confession as evidence. These hearings should be as common as pretrial hearings for admitting informant testimonies and new forensic evidence.

There are easier ways that interrogators can be controlled and that is through cameras in the interrogation room. This will hold police responsible if they do decide to use coercive techniques solely for extracting a confession and will show the actual confession for other people to judge. The judges and jury should be informed by experts of what a false confession may be, what subjects are at risk and the mechanism behind coercive interrogation techniques.

Works Cited

White, W.S. (2003). Confessions in capital cases. University of Illinois Law Review, 2003, 9791036. Volume 17Number 4 253
Kassin, S.M., & Wrightsman, L.S. (1985). Confession evidence. In S. Kassin & L.
Wrightsman (Eds.), The psychology of evidence and trial procedure (pp. 6794). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage
Brown, et al. v. State of Mississippi (1936).
Johnson, S. (2011). Place of publication not identified: Clutching Hand Books.
Mnsterberg, H. (1909).. New York: Doubleday, Page.
Zimbardo,P. G. (1967). The psychology of police confessions. Psychology Today, 1 (2), 17- 20, 25-27.
Rogers, R., & Mitchell, C.N. (1991). Mental health experts and the criminal courts. Ontario, Canada: Thomson Professional.
Kassin, S. M. (2008). False confessions: Causes, consequences, and implications for reform. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17(4), 249-253.
Inbau, F. E., Reid, J. E., Buckley, J. P., & Jayne, B. C. (2013). Criminal interrogation and confessions (5th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning
Eades, D. (2010). Sociolinguistics and the legal process. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Milgram, S. (1963). Behavioral study of obedience. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67, 371-378
Reik, T. (1959). The compulsion to confess. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Cudahy. Chambers v Florida (1940) Note (1953). Voluntary false confessions: A neglected area in criminal administration. Indiana Law Journal, 28, 374-392.
Kassin, S. M. (1997). The psychology of confession evidence. American Psychologist, 52, 221- 233.
Gudjonsson, G. H. (1991). The application of interrogative suggestibility to police


Sofia Wolfson
Emory University
University of Miami