Silence of the Lambs (Science on Screen)

Erik Cheries, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at UMass Amherst, joins us for an introduction and post-film Q&A.

Science on Screen® presents creative pairings of current, classic, cult, and documentary films with lively introductions by notable figures from the world of science, technology, and medicine.

In this chilling adaptation of the best-selling novel by Thomas Harris, the astonishingly versatile director Jonathan Demme crafted a taut psychological thriller about an American obsession: serial murder.

As Clarice Starling, an FBI trainee who enlists the help of the infamous Hannibal “the Cannibal” Lecter to gain insight into the mind of another killer, Jodie Foster subverts classic gender dynamics and gives one of the most memorable performances of her career. As her foil, Anthony Hopkins is the archetypal antihero—cultured, quick-witted, and savagely murderous—delivering a harrowing portrait of humanity gone terribly wrong.

A gripping police procedural and a disquieting immersion into a twisted psyche, THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS swept the Academy Awards® (Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actress, Actor) and remains a cultural touchstone.

Topic: “The Science of the Lambs?: What Hollywood’s most famous crime thriller tells us about serial killers, psychopathy, and the birth of Forensic Psychology”

"Well, Clarice, have the lambs stopped screaming?” is Hannibal Lecter’s haunting question to Agent Starling in this academy award-winning crime thriller. It is pop-culture’s most famous depiction of a murderous psychopath locked in a deadly cat-and-mouse game with an FBI investigator asking for his help solving a crime. But is this what psychopaths are really like? And do FBI agents really interview serial killers to help catch others? In his talk, Psychologist Erik Cheries will separate fact from fiction and describe the scientific reality of so-called “psychopaths,” review the history of criminal profiling in the FBI, and discuss whether or not research supports these as valid techniques for gaining insight into the criminal mind and, ultimately, solving crimes.

Speaker: Erik Cheries, Senior Lecturer, Ph.D., Dept. of Psychological and Brain Sciences, UMass Amherst

Erik Cheries is a cognitive scientist and faculty member in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences at UMass Amherst. His research focuses on the developmental foundations of moral thought and behavior and he is the professor of Forensic Psychology: an introductory course that explains how the field of psychology impacts nearly every aspect of our criminal justice system, from crimes to convictions. Erik obtained his Ph.D. in Psychology at Yale University and completed his postdoctoral research fellowship in the Laboratory for Developmental Studies at Harvard University. He is passionate about liberating scientific discoveries from the ivory tower and communicating them to the broader community.