Julia Shaw (born January 20, 1987) is a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

psychologist and popular science writer who specialises in

false memories In psychology, a false memory is a phenomenon where someone recalls something that did not actually happen or recalls it differently from the way it actually happened. Suggestibility, activation of associated information, the incorporation ...

. Shaw has been an honorary Research Associate in Psychology at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

(UCL) since 2017 and was a contributor to ''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Pri ...

'' between 2015 and 2017. Since 2020, she has co-hosted the

BBC Sounds BBC Sounds is an Over-the-top media service, over-the-top audio streaming media, streaming and download service from the BBC that includes live radio broadcasts, Streaming media, audio on demand, and podcasts. The service is available on a wide ...

true crime True crime is a genre of non-fiction work in which an author examines a crime, including detailing the actions of people associated with and affected by the crime, and investigating the perpetrator's Motive (law), motives. True crime works often ...

podcast ''Bad People'' with Danish comedian

Sofie Hagen Sofie Hagen (born November 10, 1988) is a Danish comedian, author, podcaster, fashion designer, and fat acceptance campaigner. They have toured with comedy shows, released a book and hosted and co-hosted a number of podcasts. Biography Sofie ...

Education and academic career

Shaw was born on January 20, 1987 in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

and grew up in Germany and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. In 2004 she started a BSc in psychology at the

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

. She went on to complete a master's degree in Psychology and Law at

Maastricht University Maastricht University (abbreviated as UM; ) is a public university, public research university in Maastricht, Netherlands. Founded in 1976, it is the second youngest of the thirteen List of universities in the Netherlands, Dutch universities. In ...

in the Netherlands. In 2009, she returned to Canada and was awarded a PhD at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

(UBC). Her doctoral thesis was entitled "Constructing Rich False Memories of Committing Crime". Shaw remained in Canada and was a lecturer at UBC until 2013 when she became a lecturer in forensic psychology at the

University of Bedfordshire The University of Bedfordshire is a Public university, public research university with campuses in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, England. The university has roots in further and higher education from 1882: it gained university status in 19 ...

. She joined

London South Bank University London South Bank University (LSBU) is a public university in Elephant and Castle, London. It is based in the London Borough of Southwark, near the South Bank of the River Thames, from which it takes its name. Founded in 1892 as the Borough Po ...

as a Senior Lecturer in Criminology in 2015, before becoming an honorary Research Associate in Psychology at UCL in 2017. She is the founder of the Bisexual Research Group and completed an MA in Queer History at

Goldsmiths, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, formerly Goldsmiths College, University of London, is a constituent research university of the University of London. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by ...

. Shaw specialises in

and how law enforcement can use "tactics

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

may lead people to recall crimes that never occurred". In one of her studies, she stated that in a controlled setting she was able to construct false memories of childhood events in 70% of participants using suggestive memory-retrieval techniques. The validity of this 70% finding has, however, been criticised by colleagues who recoded the data to conclude 26–30% of participants had false memories (with those with false beliefs without memory details not being counted as false memories in this recoding). Shaw addressed the criticism in a 2018 article in ''Psychological Science'', where she explained that the original coding categorized false beliefs as false memories, in keeping with past research that argued memory and belief are difficult to truly distinguish.

Public engagement

Shaw was a contributor to the popular science magazine ''

'' between 2015 and 2017. She contributed to the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

documentary ''Memory Hackers'' (2016). In the same year Shaw released her first popular science book ''The Memory Illusion'', which was about false memories. In 2017 she gave

TEDx TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "Ideas Change Everything" (previously "Ideas Worth Sprea ...

talks on false memories. Shaw's second book ''Making Evil'' was about

. A review in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' described it as "chattily written" but criticised her use of discredited experiments such as the

Stanford prison experiment The Stanford prison experiment (SPE), also referred to as the Zimbardo prison experiment (ZPE), was a controversial psychological experiment performed in August 1971 at Stanford University. It was designed to be a two-week simulation of a p ...

to illustrate her points. A reviewer for '' The Herald'' called it "fascinating" and "convincing". A review in the ''

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The (; ''FAZ''; "Frankfurt General Newspaper") is a German newspaper founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt and is considered a newspaper of record for Germany. Its Sunday edition is the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung'' ( ...

'' criticised its simplistic writing and felt that it only provided discussion points for

small talk Small talk is an informal type of discourse that does not cover any functional topics of conversation or any transactions that need to be addressed. In essence, it is polite and standard conversation about unimportant things. The phenomenon ...

at parties. In July 2020, Shaw started to co-host the true crime podcast ''Bad People'' with Danish comedian

, on

. She also co-hosts the German language true crime podcast ''Böse'' with singer-songwriter Jazzy Gudd which started in January 2022. In June 2022, she released her third book ''Bi'', about the history of bisexuality. A review in ''The Guardian'' commented that it was "an impassioned attempt to bring decades of serious academic research out of the shadows" but criticised its use of terms interchangeably such as queer and LGBT+ which could lead to confusion. ''The Independent'' reviewer called it "well-researched, cogent, and compelling".

Personal life

Shaw came out as

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

in 2019. She entered a

civil partnership A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, primarily created to provide legal recognition for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage, with ch ...

with employment law barrister Paul Livingston in 2020.

Bibliography

* ''The Memory Illusion: Remembering, Forgetting, and the Science of False Memory.'' Random House, 2016, * ''Making Evil: The Science Behind Humanity's Dark Side.'' Canongate Books Ltd., 2019, * ''Bi: The Hidden Culture, History and Science of Bisexuality''. Canongate Books Ltd., 2022,

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw, Julia 1987 births Living people German women bloggers Canadian women bloggers German women psychologists Canadian psychologists Canadian women psychologists German bisexual women German bisexual writers Canadian bisexual women Canadian bisexual writers Simon Fraser University alumni Maastricht University alumni University of British Columbia alumni Academic staff of the University of Waterloo Academic staff of the University of British Columbia Academics of the University of Bedfordshire Academics of London South Bank University Bisexual women writers Bisexual scientists LGBTQ psychologists LGBTQ bloggers Bisexual academics