Forensic Psychology Exam Practice Questions with
Expert Solutions
Forensic Psychology - Answer a field of psychology that deals with all aspects of human behavior as it
relates to the law or legal system
3 categories of killers according to Browning (in Police Battalion 101 during the Holocaust) - Answer 1.
Laggers
2. Accommodators
3. Evaders
What do we turn to for explanation of the behavior of Police Battalion 101 killers? - Answer Social
psychology (personality psychology looked at people as individuals and not a group)
Factors from social psychology that Browning used to explain the behavior of Police Battalion 101 killers:
- Answer 1. Solomon Asch conformity experiment
2. Milgram Experiment
3. Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment
4. Cognitive Dissonance
Solomon Asch conformity experiment - Answer In 1955, psychologist Solomon Asch devised this simple
study to research conformity.
Each person in the room had to state aloud which comparison line (A, B or C) was most like the target
line. The answer was always obvious. The real participant sat at the end of the row and gave his or her
answer last.
There were 18 trials in total, and the confederates gave the wrong answer on 12 trails (called the critical
trials). Asch was interested to see if the real participant would conform to the majority view.
Milgram Experiment - Answer An experiment devised in 1961 by Stanley Milgram, a psychologist at Yale
University, to see how far ordinary people would go to obey a scientific authority figure. People would
shock a "learner" because they were told to by an authority figure even though that person was in a lot
of pain.
,Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment - Answer an experiment in which people were assigned to be
guards or prisoners- studied how drastically behaviors can change under certain influences
3 groups
1. Good guards
2. Obedient guards
3. Tormenting guards
Cognitive Dissonance - Answer Attitudes and behaviors have to align otherwise there's discomfort (ex:
smoking)
Festinger experiment paid people to recruit their friends for different sums of money and asked the
people how boring they thought task was which varied with amount of money being paid
In Milgram's experiment the participants were asked what they think of the learner before and after the
situation and they somehow had a negative view of the learner after the situation even though they
didn't really interact because they wanted to justify their actions
Men were transformed by what they did, they became antisemitic because they had to justify their
actions to avoid cognitive dissonance
Criticisms of studying social psychology to explain Police Battalion 101 behaviors: - Answer 1. These
findings are not deterministic and do not remove individual responsibility
2. There were individual differences at play in Milgram and Zimbardo's experiments
3. These findings allow us to make predictions regarding groups but individuals are not relieved of their
individual responsibility for the decisions they make
Situationism - Answer The situation dictates behavior
Mischel (1968) - traits aren't useful predictors, we overestimate behavioral consistency, situation is
more important, personality assessment is a waste of time
, Person - Answer Situationism is based on lab studies which might make people behave differently, traits
clearly exist
Argument to Mischel:
Unfair literature review, situationism is based on lab studies, .4 is not a small correlation, Allport's lexical
hypothesis
Interactionism - Answer Buss (1977) argued that people and situations interact in 3 different ways:
1. Effect of personality depends on situation
2. People find themselves in situations because of their personality, situational selection and evocation
3. People change situations by how they act and what they do in these situations (manipulation)
Situational Selection - Answer to choose the situations in which one finds itself
Evocation - Answer certain personality traits may evoke specific responses from the environment
Manipulation - Answer The various means by which people influence the social situation
Situational Specificity - Answer When a person acts in a specific way under certain circumstances
Strong situation, weak situation - Answer Strong situation is where people behave in similar ways
(funeral), weak situations are more ambiguous
Situational Risk Factors for Violence - Answer 1. Obedience to Authority (Milgram)
2. De-individuation
3. Conformity (Asch)
4. Cognitive Dissonance
Expert Solutions
Forensic Psychology - Answer a field of psychology that deals with all aspects of human behavior as it
relates to the law or legal system
3 categories of killers according to Browning (in Police Battalion 101 during the Holocaust) - Answer 1.
Laggers
2. Accommodators
3. Evaders
What do we turn to for explanation of the behavior of Police Battalion 101 killers? - Answer Social
psychology (personality psychology looked at people as individuals and not a group)
Factors from social psychology that Browning used to explain the behavior of Police Battalion 101 killers:
- Answer 1. Solomon Asch conformity experiment
2. Milgram Experiment
3. Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment
4. Cognitive Dissonance
Solomon Asch conformity experiment - Answer In 1955, psychologist Solomon Asch devised this simple
study to research conformity.
Each person in the room had to state aloud which comparison line (A, B or C) was most like the target
line. The answer was always obvious. The real participant sat at the end of the row and gave his or her
answer last.
There were 18 trials in total, and the confederates gave the wrong answer on 12 trails (called the critical
trials). Asch was interested to see if the real participant would conform to the majority view.
Milgram Experiment - Answer An experiment devised in 1961 by Stanley Milgram, a psychologist at Yale
University, to see how far ordinary people would go to obey a scientific authority figure. People would
shock a "learner" because they were told to by an authority figure even though that person was in a lot
of pain.
,Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment - Answer an experiment in which people were assigned to be
guards or prisoners- studied how drastically behaviors can change under certain influences
3 groups
1. Good guards
2. Obedient guards
3. Tormenting guards
Cognitive Dissonance - Answer Attitudes and behaviors have to align otherwise there's discomfort (ex:
smoking)
Festinger experiment paid people to recruit their friends for different sums of money and asked the
people how boring they thought task was which varied with amount of money being paid
In Milgram's experiment the participants were asked what they think of the learner before and after the
situation and they somehow had a negative view of the learner after the situation even though they
didn't really interact because they wanted to justify their actions
Men were transformed by what they did, they became antisemitic because they had to justify their
actions to avoid cognitive dissonance
Criticisms of studying social psychology to explain Police Battalion 101 behaviors: - Answer 1. These
findings are not deterministic and do not remove individual responsibility
2. There were individual differences at play in Milgram and Zimbardo's experiments
3. These findings allow us to make predictions regarding groups but individuals are not relieved of their
individual responsibility for the decisions they make
Situationism - Answer The situation dictates behavior
Mischel (1968) - traits aren't useful predictors, we overestimate behavioral consistency, situation is
more important, personality assessment is a waste of time
, Person - Answer Situationism is based on lab studies which might make people behave differently, traits
clearly exist
Argument to Mischel:
Unfair literature review, situationism is based on lab studies, .4 is not a small correlation, Allport's lexical
hypothesis
Interactionism - Answer Buss (1977) argued that people and situations interact in 3 different ways:
1. Effect of personality depends on situation
2. People find themselves in situations because of their personality, situational selection and evocation
3. People change situations by how they act and what they do in these situations (manipulation)
Situational Selection - Answer to choose the situations in which one finds itself
Evocation - Answer certain personality traits may evoke specific responses from the environment
Manipulation - Answer The various means by which people influence the social situation
Situational Specificity - Answer When a person acts in a specific way under certain circumstances
Strong situation, weak situation - Answer Strong situation is where people behave in similar ways
(funeral), weak situations are more ambiguous
Situational Risk Factors for Violence - Answer 1. Obedience to Authority (Milgram)
2. De-individuation
3. Conformity (Asch)
4. Cognitive Dissonance
