Forensic Psych. Test 1

Forensic

Anything pertaining or potentially pertaining to law

• Civil V. Criminal

Forensic Scientists

Commonality: law and Field experts

• anthropology

• pathology

• linguistics

Psychology

science of behavior and mental processes

A

Affect

B

Behavior

C

Cognition

Forensic Psych Def. (broadly defined)

The research and application of psychological knowledge to the legal system

Forensic Psych Def. (narrowly defined)

the application and PRACTICE if psychology as it applies to the legal system

Broad definition of forenic psych.

Functional role

• application of psych. to a particular purpose

• backgrounds in various psychological fields

• all can aid/participate in legal system

Functional roles of psychologists

• experimenter/ researcher

• clinical assessment

  • psychological ability, disability, capacity, treatability

• advisor/consultant

  • selection of jury

  • explain the practical implication of relevant research

• treatment provider

Psychology IN law

Direct contributions IN court (case/proceedings)

• testimonies about witness reliability

• mental state of the accused person

• potential fitness for child custody in divorce case

Psychology AND law 

Actors within the legal system

• offendors, police, counsel, judges, jury defendants

  • biases, stereotypes: race,gender, attractiveness, etc

Psychology OF law 

Perceptions of law-related things

• Outside/public reaction to legal concepts 

Police culture

rules, attitudes, beliefs, and practices accepted among police

• highly structured and tight-knit

  • protection+social/emotional support

  • reluctant to trust anyone new

blue wall of silence

the idea that you don’t report your police peer for anything, even corruption

• intergroup favorism

• group brought closer by common challenges 

background: police training

• differs by state

  • peace officer standards and training (POST)

minimal group paradigm

small things cause ingroup favoritism

Peace officer standards and training (POST)

• U.S. average 4-6 months (800-1100)

• EU countries average 2-3 years

  • more time spent on de-escalating/ studying psych

Law enforcement psychologists

research and apply psychological knowledge and clinical skills to law enforcement and public safety

Psychologicla intervention responsibilities

Fitness for duty evaluation (FFDE)

Occupational stresstors

• organizational

• task related

• extrernal

• personal

organizational stressors

• most prevalent 

• excessive shift work (messes with sleep)

• poor pay

• office politics

task related stressors

• emotional labor

  • emotional dissonance: fighting personal emotions

External stress

• courts

• criminal process

• media and public attitudes

assessments

needs to be:

• systemic (objective and consistent)

• identify skills, ability, knowlegde, psychological characteristics

Desired traits for police officers

• good judgment/ decision-making skill

• good memory/ observation/ communication skill

• trustworthiness/ mental stability

Types of procedures

• screening-out

• screening-in

Screening-out

trying to eliminate applications who appear poorly suited for work in law enforcement

• most common

screening-in

identifying attributes that distinguish one job applicant as being potentially more effective than another

• harder to do with psychological tests (little evidence)

• people THINK they can

Psychological testing

concern with VALIDITY ( it tests exactly what it needs to)

Face validity

• has “face value”

  • superficially appears to measure

• importance

  • ppl have more faith in test with face value

  • NOT sufficient by itself

Concurrent validity

• uses the performance of current officers to predict future ones

• a good test for this validity will have different scores

• Issue: people get hired but might drop out so theres missing info

Predictive validity

• predicts whats designed to measure (officer behavior)

  • similar process as concurrent

  • longitudinal

• more useful but rarely used due to time and money

The minnesota multiphasic personality inventory-revised (MMPI-3)

• most common

• screens out abnormal behavior 

• designed to catch

  • “lie scale”

  • mental health problems

  • random responding

• needs psychologist for interpretation and follow up

Investigative psychology

• scientific approach designed to improve our understanding of criminal behavior and the investigate process

• When, where, who, patterns?

• profiling

profiling

attempts to identify the behavioral, cognitive, emotional, and demographic characteristics of a person based on info gathered from wide range of sources

crime scene profiling

tries to understand what certain things say about the person

• how targets were chosen/targeted (patterns?)

• forensic evidence left behind

• used when stumped- no leads

limits to crime scene profiling

• assumes that human behavior is consistent all the time

• modus operandi: how a criminal does their crime can change

suspect-based profiling

systematic collection of previous offender “profile” (Behavioral, personality, cognitive, demographic data)

• limits:

  • idiogarphic approach (case study) sometimes chosen over nomothetic approach ( combining data from many other individuals)

general issues with profiling

• reports often are ambiguous

• confirmation bias: strong preferences over ones own views to be confirmed

• using “gut” instincts

misinformation effect

• misleading post event info (MPI)- memories can change later

police interviewing

• misinformation effect

• standard interview

• cognitive interview

standard interview

• true/false

• Follow-up can be leading or suggestive

  • memories can be implanted

Cognitive interview

• open-ended (leaves questions)

  • rapport/encourage feelings

• eyes clsoedclosed

  • reduces cognitive load

• retell story from other perspective

• different starting spots which encourages concentration

Eyewitness testimony acurracy

eyewitnesses are often

• preoccupied

• taken off guard

• criminal actions are usually brief- not enough time to process

Eyewitnesses are subject to 

• change blindness

• over confidence

• weapon-focused (too focused on weapon that other aspects are forgotton)

• cross racial identification

change blindness

failure to detect changes in environment

• influenced by

  • age (younger have worse detection)

  • attention

  • substance used

over confidence

• jurors tend to be influenced by eyewitnesses apparent confience

  • confidence doesn’t equal accuracy

• commitment bias: even if you're wrong the more time u say it the more you believe it

Cross racial identification

Your more likely to recognize people you’re around and think people outside look similar (race wise)

Simultaneosu police lineup

having all suspects lined up

Sequential police lineup

one on one