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35 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Psychology
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systematic and scientific study of behaviors and mental processes
1. applied psychologists (clinical/counseling) 2. experimental psychologists (scientists) |
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Forensic Psychology
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it has overlaps with applied psychology, but primarily deals with application of psychological research, methods and theory to criminal behavior, an legal and criminal processes
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General 3 areas of Forensic Psychology
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1. Research in Criminal Psychopathology
2. Pschology & and the Legal System 3. Psychology & Law Enforcement |
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Research in Criminal Psychopathology
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Researching the factors associated with psychopathological (abnormal) behavior when those behaviors result in criminal misconduct
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Psychology & the Legal System
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Applying science to the courts and legal proceedings including issues associated with eyewitnesses, juries, punishment, and sentencing as well as the correctional system
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Psychology & Law Enforcement
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Applying science to law enforcement both in terms of police training as well as criminal investigations
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Law vs Behavioral Science
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Behavioral science has had the most profound effect on how law works in the courtroom, but his relationship is not a happy one
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Goals of the Law
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-morality
- social control - justifying the application of abstract principles to specific cases - values efficiency and expediency |
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Goals of behavioral science
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- knowledge
- derives abstract principles form aggregate patterns of behavior - relies on scientific method to reveal reproducible phenomena |
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Laws
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human creations that evolved out of the need to resolve conflicts & maintain social order
- reflects values, and values are basic psychological concepts |
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Values
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standards for decision making, and laws are created, amended, or discarded bc society has established standards fro what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior
- can change, leading to new laws and interpretations of existing ones |
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Validity
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scale, questionnaire, etc. measuring what is is supposed to measure
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Conflict btw law and science
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the search for the truth; the nature of truth
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Normal Distribution Characteristics
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50% fall above/below mean
68% fall between -1 and +1 95% fall between -2 and +2 |
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Tanford (1990)
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found that the Supreme Court tends to approve legal rules based on intuitive assumptions about human behavior that research by psychologists has shown to be erroneous
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5 distinct roles psychologists play in legal system
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1. basic scientist
2. applied scientist 3. policy evaluator 4. forensic evaluator 5. consultant |
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Basic Scientist
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study phenomenon for satisfaction of understanding it
- don't necessarily seek to apply findings, get often their results can address important legal issues |
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Applied Scientist
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dedicated to applying knowledge to solve real-life problems (i.e. Loftus & Palmer)
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Policy Evaluator
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use methodological skill to evaluate how well an intervention has worked
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Forensic Evaluator
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may be asked to evaluate individuals involved in civil and criminal cases, to report their findings to a judge, and at times, to testify about the results in court
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Consultants
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use scientific jury selection procedures, conduct community attitude surveys, prepare witnesses to testify, advise lawyers on presentation strategies, and conduct mock trials
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Forensic psychology beyond crime scene
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1. eyewitness memory
2. neurological thought identification 3. profiling 4. psychological autopsies |
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Cognitive Psychology
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study of how people think; apply expertise to forensic science study:
- eyewitness memory - competency issues - diminished capacity - cognitive impairment - mental age issues |
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Eyewitness Memory
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Elizabeth Loftus and Gary Wells are most influential in eyewitness memory fallibility
- 88% of exonerated prisoners wrongly sentenced for rape were from faulty eyewitness testimony |
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Elizabeth Loftus
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Process of suspect misidentification
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Gary L. Wells
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Accuracy of Eyewitness memory
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Neurological Psychology
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study of how brain affects thinking and behavior. Neurological psychologists who apply their expertise to forensic science study:
- diminished capacity - drugs and behavior - brain damage and criminal behavior - brain fingerprinting |
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Scanning the Brain
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- Magnetic Resonance Imaging scan: captures brain structure
- Functional magnetic Resonance Imaging: measures areas of greatest brain activity |
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Marcel Just & Tom Mitchell
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Though Identification
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John-Dylan Haynes
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- Measuring Intention
- Measuring Location Familiarity |
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Behavioral Psychology
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study of overt behavior. apply expertise to forensic study:
- criminal profiling - modus operandi - victimology - -deceptive behavior - one of the most limiting areas of behavioral science as it applies to forensic science - theories aren't grounded in neuroscience are more pseudoscientific in nature |
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Criminal Profiling
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any technique that allows for inferences to be made regarding traits of individuals for committing a crime
- deals primarily w/process of inductive reasoning where one takes specific observations to form broader generalizations - elements of crime scene area combined w/forensic analyses of physical evidence and forensic victimology profile to see if behavioral patterns or clusters suggest a specific type of offender |
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Problems w/ criminal profiling
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- only in retrospect that profile appears to have worked
- general profiles tend to have too much information to be valuable at pin pointing specific criminal - it can bias investigators to ignore non-fitting info - high potential error rates in terms of false positives and false negatives |
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Clinical Psychology
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study of abnormal behavior. apply expertise to forensic science study:
- psychological autopsies - criminal psychopathology - competency to stand trial - insanity determinations - clinical psychologists are trained to do science as well as being therapeutic practitioners |
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Psychological Autopsies
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involves set of tools and methodologies used to investigate equivocal or undetermined death
- goal is to reveal thoughts and attitudes of deceased prior to death - evidence based on how well it fits with suicide hypothesis; then whether suicide can be eliminated in terms of manner of death - psychological autopsy report becomes property of medical examiner/coroner's office |
