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The making of "truth serum"
1University of Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA. awinter@uchicago.edu
Bulletin of the History of Medicine
|September 27, 2005
Summary
This study explores the social history of "truth serum" in 1920s-30s America. It reveals how this scientific-seeming technique offered public access to expertise and shaped modern views on memory and recall.
Area of Science:
- History of Science
- Psychology
- Sociology
Background:
- Examines the social and cultural history of
- truth serum
- in America during the 1920s and 1930s.
Observation:
- The concept of a physiological
- truth technique
- emerged, appearing modernly scientific yet accessible to the public.
Findings:
- Truth serum provided perceived expertise without diminishing lay authority.
- It promoted a view of memory as a permanent, accessible record through altered states.
Implications:
- This perspective on memory diverged from contemporary psychological research.
- It laid the groundwork for later claims about memory permanence and scientific recall.
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