Ch.1-Police psychology (Psych 3314)

Police psychology

the scientific study of police beheaviors, mental processes, and practices, and the professional practice aof psychology within, or in consultation with, police agencies to provide clinical and mental health services, operational assistance services, and adminstritative and policy services

reliablity

the extent to which measure yields the same results each time

validity

is a measure of accuracy and refers to extent to which the procedure or test measures what it claims to measure

police selection interview

is an interactive assessement in which one or more interviewers pose several questions to candidates and evaluate their responses to determine subility for police role

unstructured interviews

different questions are asked to each applicant or the question order is varied across applicants

structured interviews

use the same job related questions for all candidates in consistent order

situational based interviews

operate on the premise that current intentions are best indicators of future actions, offering insights into an applicant’s knowledge and greater mental ability

beheavior based interviews

assume that past beheaviors best predict future performance

Psychological evaluations

conducted by licenced clinical psychologists

-involve an assessement of the candiate’s personality and beheavior through standarized tesys

Minnesota multiphasic personality inventory (MMPI)

evaluates perosnality traits and the presence of mental illness by requiring test takers to respond to 556 true or false statements

Inwald personality inventory (IPI)

310 true or false questions

25 dimensions to assesss charcteristics related to acting out beheaviors, acting out attitudes, internalized conflict, and interpersonal conflict

Matrix Predictive Uniform law enforcement selection evaluation inventory (M-PULSE)

-self report

-measures that assess the future job performance of law enforcemnt applicants

-measure a candidates attitudes, values, beliefs and beheaviors related to law enforcement and culture

cognitive ability

individual’s capcity to perform mental tasks related to learning, problem solving, reasoning and decision making

-perception, memory, comprehension, and logical thinking

situational judgement tests (SJTs)

conist of written or video based simulations that require test takers to exercise their judgement in response to realistic workplace scenarios

Low fidelity SJTs-are least realistic requiring little actual engagement from the candidate

high fidelity SJTs- are very realistic and require higher level of candidate engagement

assessement centre (AC)

involves exercises designed to stimulate real on the job situations

overt intergrity tests

which ask explicit questions about attitudes and past beheaviors related to unethnical or illegal actions

convert intergrity tests

which assess personality traits to gauge intergrity indirectly

use of force

the amount of effort police use to compel compliance by unwilling subject

national use of force framework

a continuum mapping the varying levels of force onto different subject beheaviors

Body worn cameras

are wearable technology police officers use to document digital evidence of their patrol, investigative duties, and cizten interactions in real time from the perspective of the police officer wearing them

organizational stressors

factors within workplace that lead to stress

-budget cuts

-interpersonal conflict

-heavy workloads

-lack of advancement opportunties

-irregular hours

approach coping strategies

involve directly addressing the stressor, problem solving, and seeking emotion focused coping

-help officers manage stress, resolve challenges, and lead to better mental health outcomes

avoidant coping strategies

evading the stress, often through maladaptive beheaviors like substance use or denial

-negative long term effects on mental health