Gisli Gudjonsson
Encyclopedia
Gísli Hannes Guðjónsson, CBE
(born 26 October 1947) is a Professor
of Forensic Psychology
at the Institute of Psychiatry
of King's College London
. He is an internationally renowned authority on suggestibility and false confessions whose expert testimony was the basis for the convictions of the Birmingham Six
and Guildford Four
being overturned. He created the Gudjonsson suggestibility scale
to measure how susceptible someone is to coercion during an interrogation.
In 1982, he coined the term memory distrust syndrome
, to describe those who distrust their own memories and are motivated to rely on external (non-self) sources to verify the accuracy of memories.
He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours
for services to clinical psychology.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 26 October 1947) is a Professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of Forensic Psychology
Forensic psychology
Forensic psychology is the intersection between psychology and the criminal justice system. It involves understanding criminal law in the relevant jurisdictions in order to be able to interact appropriately with judges, attorneys and other legal professionals...
at the Institute of Psychiatry
Institute of Psychiatry
The Institute of Psychiatry is a research institution dedicated to discovering what causes mental illness and diseases of the brain. In addition, its aim is to help identify new treatments for them and ways to prevent them in the first place...
of King's College London
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
. He is an internationally renowned authority on suggestibility and false confessions whose expert testimony was the basis for the convictions of the Birmingham Six
Birmingham Six
The Birmingham Six were six men—Hugh Callaghan, Patrick Joseph Hill, Gerard Hunter, Richard McIlkenny, William Power and John Walker—sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975 in the United Kingdom for the Birmingham pub bombings. Their convictions were declared unsafe and quashed by the Court of...
and Guildford Four
Guildford Four
The Guildford Four and the Maguire Seven were two sets of people whose convictions in English courts for the Guildford pub bombings in the 1970s were eventually quashed...
being overturned. He created the Gudjonsson suggestibility scale
Gudjonsson suggestibility scale
The Gudjonsson suggestibility scale is a test that tries to measure how susceptible a person is to coercive interrogation.-History:It was created by Gísli Hannes Guðjónsson. It relies on two different aspects of interrogative suggestibility: It measures how much an interrogated person yields to...
to measure how susceptible someone is to coercion during an interrogation.
Biography
He was born on 26 October 1947.In 1982, he coined the term memory distrust syndrome
Memory distrust syndrome
Memory distrust syndrome is a term coined by Gísli Guðjónsson and James MacKeith in 1982, to describe those who distrust their own memories and are motivated to rely on external sources to verify the accuracy of memories....
, to describe those who distrust their own memories and are motivated to rely on external (non-self) sources to verify the accuracy of memories.
He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours
2011 Birthday Honours
The Birthday Honours 2011 for the Commonwealth Realms were announced on 7 June 2011 in New Zealand and 11 June 2011 in United Kingdom to celebrate the Queen's Birthday of 2011.-Privy Councillors:...
for services to clinical psychology.
Selected list of publications
- Psychology brings justice: the science of forensic psychology (Crim Behav Ment Health. 2003;13(3):159-67)
- The Psychology of Interrogations and Confessions. A Handbook. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. (2003)
- Forensic Psychology. A Guide to Practice (with Lionel Haward)
- The relationship between confabulation and intellectual ability, memory, interrogative suggestibility and acquiescence. (Personality and Individual DifferencesPersonality and Individual DifferencesPersonality and Individual Differences is a scientific journal published bi-monthly by Elsevier and founded in 1980. PAID is the official journal of the International Society for the Study of Individual Differences ....
, 1995) - The Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scales Manual. Hove, UK: Psychology Press. (1997)
- The Relationship Of Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms To Suggestibility And Compliance. (Psychology, Crime & Law, June 2004, Vol. 10(2), pp. 169/177)