香港六合彩

Dr Julia Shaw has always been interested in why people do bad things.听

Her fascination doesn't come from a place of judgement. After all, Shaw points out, we are all capable of them.听

鈥淚t鈥檚 about understanding and emphathising with why people do bad things, rather than othering and dehumanising,鈥� she says.听听

Famous philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche famously said, 鈥楾hinking evil is making evil鈥�. It refers to his contention that evil, and good for that matter, are not finite but rather subjective constructs we create ourselves. It is an approach that immediately resonated with Shaw.听听

This formed the genesis of her book, Making Evil. 听

Initially, Shaw studied with the intention of becoming a clinical psychologist, but soon realised the clinical settings simply weren鈥檛 for her.听

鈥淚 realised that (my career) wasn't going to be doing therapy with inmates or people who've committed crimes. It was going to be researching why people do bad things in general.鈥澨�

"I decided to go instead into criminal psychology 鈥� specifically research on criminal psychology.鈥澨�

She has never looked back.听

Shaw has studied the field of human memory, with a particular focus on 鈥榝alse memory鈥�.听

鈥淎 false memory is a memory of something that never actually happened,鈥� she says.听

鈥淭here are two types. One is a partial false memory, which is misremembering a detail 鈥� maybe something someone was wearing or the time of day. Or it can be a full false memory. That is, a memory of an entire event that didn鈥檛 happen.鈥澨�

As a researcher, Shaw is interested in why we make these mistakes. However, it鈥檚 an interest that holds a strong relevance to the justice system particularly. Witness errors are one of the leading reasons for wrongful conviction.听听

Fascinatingly, it can also hold true for those accused of crimes.听听

鈥淎s a suspect, you can even misremember committing crimes. Through leading and suggestive interview practices, you can become convinced that you committed a crime that never actually happened.鈥澨�

鈥淪o understanding false memory is really important for these specific settings.鈥澨�

In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Shaw embarked on her most personal project yet.听听

She wrote exploring the history and science of bisexuality, drawing in-depth on her own experiences.听

鈥淎s a bisexual person, I didn鈥檛 know anything about my own past. I didn鈥檛 know whether there was any scientific study into experiences like mine. I wanted to see bisexual people in history.鈥澨�

Initially, Shaw found it incredibly difficult. As she suspected, it was a largely invisible section of society 鈥� particularly in the field of academic research.听

So, she turned to Twitter, putting out a tweet asking her network if any researchers were studying bisexuality. To her surprise, she was inundated with responses from scholars all over the world studying bisexuality in fields ranging from sociology to film studies.听听

鈥淚t鈥檚 easy to say there鈥檚 nothing out there, because it鈥檚 really hard to see it,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut there is actually a lot going on.鈥澨�

It reinforces Shaw鈥檚 aim to bring greater visibility and understanding to bisexuality.听

As for what鈥檚 next? Shaw is in the process of writing her next book on environmental crime, or 鈥榞reen crime,鈥� a growing area of criminal psychology.听

It continues her passion of applying criminal psychology to the context of real-world issues she is passionate about. It鈥檚 a career trajectory that would have never been possible if Shaw didn鈥檛 pivot from her initial clinical pathway.听

This open-mindedness is a message she wants to impart on those starting out in the study of psychology.听

"You don't need to specialise too much right away,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 thought I wanted to be a clinical psychologist and then when I tried it, I didn't like it. That is as useful to know as knowing exactly what you do like. So do a test drive and be willing to reject things that you've once thought you wanted to do.鈥澨�

鈥淭he other thing is realising that, yes, academia can be a great place to work. But there are also lots of hybrid jobs. Science is a big thing and it doesn't just live in a university. Science lives in the world and you can take it with you when you leave.鈥澨�

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• View Dr Julia Shaw鈥檚 香港六合彩 academic profile听
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• 香港六合彩 Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

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