Violence Risk Assessment and Lie Detection in Forensic Psychology

This set of flashcards covers key terms and concepts related to Violence Risk Assessment, lie detection, psychopathy, and criminal profiling within forensic psychology.

Violence

Actual, attempted, or threatened physical harm that is deliberate and nonconsenting.

Clinical Risk Assessments

Risk assessments based on human judgment.

Actuarial Risk Assessments (ARAI)

Risk assessments using fixed, mechanical rules based on statistical associations.

Structured Professional Judgments (SPJ)

A hybrid risk assessment approach requiring clinician judgment while using a framework of risk factors.

Cognitive-Behavioral Treatments (CBT)

Therapeutic interventions targeting the link between distorted thoughts and maladaptive behaviors in sexual offenders.

Relapse Prevention

A key component of treatment that teaches offenders to identify personal chains of events leading to offending and to replace them with non-offending behaviors.

Domestic Violence (DV)

Aggression within a significant interpersonal relationship.

Lie Detection

The practice of determining whether someone is being truthful or deceptive.

Lying by Omission

Leaving out relevant details, the easiest and most common type of lying.

Lying by Commission

Actively adding false details, which requires more cognitive effort to maintain.

Polygraph

A device that measures physiological responses to determine truthfulness or deception.

Comparison Question Test (CQT)

A polygraph technique comparing responses to relevant and control questions.

Concealed Information Test (CIT)

A method presenting questions about crime details known only to the perpetrator to assess truthfulness.

Psychopathy

A construct in forensic psychology characterized by specific emotional and behavioral traits, rather than a formal DSM diagnosis.

PCL-R (Psychopathy Checklist—Revised)

A 20-item assessment designed to evaluate the presence of psychopathic traits.

Microexpressions

Involuntary, brief facial movements that reveal an underlying emotion and are not reliable for lie detection.

Malingering

The intentional fabrication or exaggeration of mental illness symptoms for secondary gain.

Criminal Profiling

A technique used by the FBI to create profiles of criminals based on behavioral analysis.