psych 3cc3 final exam

• Forensic Psychology


  A field of psychology that deals with all aspects of human behaviour as it relates to the law or legal system
• The first forensic psych study was conducted in 1895, and it was conducted by James Cattell
• Cattell's study on recollection accuracy


  • Recollection is often inaccurate, especially when thinking about further dates (as short as a week ago)
  • Answers were often inaccurate and the relationship between accuracy and confidence in accuracy was very low
  • People thought they were more accurate than they actually were
  • Witness testimonies are probably not as accurate as we used to think
• Binet's study on suggestibility

  • Children were more accurate in their recollections when asked to do free recall compared to when they were asked leading questions
  • Suggestibility applies to adults too
• Narrow definition of forensic psychology


  Clinical psychology as it pertains to the legal system; Assessing, treating, consulting etc.
• Broad definition of forensic psychology


  Research endeavour that examines human behaviour directly related to legal processes and clinical work within the legal system
• Clinical forensic psychologists


  • Broadly concerned with the assessment and treatment of mental health issues as they pertain to the law or legal system
  • May work privately or in hospitals and prisons
  • May help rehabilitate prisoners, victims, etc.
  • May assess risk, suitability for jobs, readiness to return to work
• Experimental forensic psychologists


  • May look at mental health like a clinical psychologist, but are usually interested in human behaviour, emotion, and cognition as it pertains to the legal system
  • May study memory, suggestibility, information processing during a crime, jury decision-making, eyewitness lineups, biases in law enforcement
• Legal scholar

  Someone who conducts research AND has a law degree
• Relationships between psychology and law

  • Psychology and the law
  • Psychology in the law
  • Psychology of the law
• Witness


  Can testify about what they directly observed
• Expert witness


  Can provide court with their personal opinion on matters relevant to the case, based on their expertise
• The first expert witness in the U.S. was in 1921: State v. Driver in West Virginia
• Challenges in being an expert witness

  • Need a lot of training and experience as a psychologist
  • Need to study the cases in detail and have legal knowledge
  • Need to understand their role and communicate in a persuasive and helpful manner
  • Differences between psychology and law make it a challenging role
• 7 differences between psychology and law

  • Epistemology (truth)
  • Goals
  • Knowledge
  • Methods
  • Criteria
  • Principles
  • Behaviour in the legal system
• General Acceptance test


  For expert testimony to be admissible in court, the basis of the testimony has to be generally accepted within the relevant scientific community
• Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals

  • Supreme court laid out 4 criteria for accepting expert testimony: research has been peer reviewed, is testable, has recognized rate of error, and adheres to professional standards
• Mohan Criteria


  • Testimony must be relevant, necessary to assist the trier of fact, must not violate any rules of exclusion, and must be provided by a qualified expert who is independent and impartial
• During police selection procedures, we're screening out undesirable candidates or select in desirable candidates, evaluating their knowledge, skills, and abilities
• Expert testimony must meet certain criteria to be admissible in court:
• Expert testimony


  • Must be helpful to the common understanding of the court
  • Must teach the court something they don't already know
  • Must not violate any rules of exclusion
• Providing testimony about past crimes could bias the jury, so anything that's prejudicial towards the defendant would not be admissible even if it's part of the expert testimony
• Experts


  • Must be qualified
  • Must be independent and impartial
• Independent

  Having no conflicts of interest, usually when it comes to financial gain
• The criteria for experts is somewhat at the discretion of the judge, so there's a degree of subjectivity
• Police selection procedures


  • Screening out undesirable candidates
  • Selecting in desirable candidates
• KSA


  Knowledge, skills, abilities
• Evaluating KSA


  1. Selection interview

  2. Personality tests

  3. Cognitive ability tests

  4. Assessment centres
• The KSA that police agencies look for will differ from agency to agency
• Police officers need to have a good memory, intimate knowledge of the law, good reasoning, verbal skills, and good logic
• Personality tests


  Used to assess if the potential officer's personality is a good fit for the job and to identify concerning behavior patterns
• Personality tests used for police selection

  • MMPI
  • Inwald personality inventory
• The Inwald personality inventory is more effective than more generalized personality tests for police selection
• Cognitive ability tests measure memory, math, verbal skills, and reasoning
• Assessment centres


  Facilities where the behavior of police applicants can be observed in several situations by multiple observers
• Assessment centres look at decisions that should be made in real life, not just reacting quickly and catching bad guys
• Discretion


  The freedom that a police officer has for deciding what should be done in any given situation
• Police officers have to make quick judgements about whether to arrest someone, how to deal with a mental health crisis, when to use force, and whether someone is dangerous or drunk
• The goal of a police interrogation is to obtain a confession of guilt from a suspect
• Confessions are important because they save time during prosecution and conviction, and those who confess are more likely to be prosecuted and convicted