Images Dated 20th December 2004

Fingerprint biometrics

Fingerprint biometrics. Computer artwork of a hand (green), a finger tip (upper left), and symbols of men (blue) and women (pink). Fingerprints are the patterns of ridges on the tips of the fingers. They have combinations of features (examples are marked here by the crosses) that are unique to individuals, and can be used to identify them. It is one of the oldest forms of biometrics, the use of body measurements to identify people. The more recent forms of biometrics include eye scans. Such biometric data can be combined with personal information, such as gender, to form the basis of identity card systems

© VICTOR HABBICK VISIONS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Psychological identity

Psychological identity. Conceptual computer artwork of a headless person and two psychology books. One of the most fundamental psychological and philosophical concepts is that of the self, a feeling that you exist independently from others and have your own experience of the world around you. The psychologist Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) divided the self into three parts: the Id, Ego and Superego. The Id is an unconscious sense of self, while the Ego is the conscious sense of the self. The Superego is an unconscious morality. One of the most well-known theories of the Ego is that of Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961)

© VICTOR HABBICK VISIONS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY