ISBN : 9780190696344
Though widely regarded as a founder of the modern field of psychology and law, German-American psychologist Hugo Munsterberg now century-old ideas and research approaches continue to thrive. In fact, the discipline still grapples with many of the issues raised by Munsterberg in his seminal 1908 book, On the Witness Stand. Hugo Munsterberg's Psychology and Law: A Historical and Contemporary Assessment makes Munsterberg's enduring insights available to a new generation of scholars and students and presents the "state of the science" on the very concepts that Munsterberg was one of the first to investigate. These include eyewitness memory, deception detection, false confessions, suggestibility, hypnotism, and the causes of criminal behavior. Opening with a brief biography of Munsterberg and a historical overview of the field, the book's organization closely follows that of On the Witness Stand, with each chapter providing a summary of Munsterberg's work followed by a contemporary perspective on the topic. Each chapter asks the reader to consider what we have learned since Munsterberg's time and whether subsequent research has shown him to be right or wrong. The final chapter asks what Munsterberg may have missed, and what we may be missing today. Hugo Munsterberg's Psychology and Law will be of interest to a broad range of scholars, practitioners, and professionals in the legal and mental health fields.
1. Overview
2. Introduction
3. Illusions
4. The Memory of the Witness
5. The Detection of Crime
6. The Traces of Emotions
7. Untrue Confessions
8. Suggestions in Court
9. Hypnotism and Crime
10. The Prevention of Crime
11. What Munsterberg Got Right, What He Missed, and What We're Missing Now