Sources of objective crime data
Public experiences:
- Surveys which ask people to estimate their experience of crime during a specific time period
Police records:
- Includes crime reports as well as recorded crimes
Court statistics:
- Composed of data on the number and type of court cases
Prison statistics:
- Composed of data on the number of prisoners and the crimes for which they were sentenced
Offender statistics:
- Gather information on number and type of offences committed. They will happily tell you to reduce
their sentence, however they will be lying acquiescence
Subjective perceptions of crime
- Are often very different from actual (objective) crime rates
- Are very important for a variety of lifestyle decisions such as where to live, where to visit, where to
go to school
- Are heavily influenced by 'framing'
Cultivation Theory (fear of crime theory)
Suggests that heavy consumption of mass media (>4 hours a day) leads to unrealistic perception of
crime rates and a subsequent higher level of fear of crime
> E.g., if you watch a lot of TV or read a lot of newspapers, anything related to the news will increase
your fear of crime. Exposing yourself to at least 4 hours a day of social media will increase your fears
,Cognitive Theory (fear of crime theory)
Suggests that fear of crime is the product of a cognitive calculation of 2 factors- (1) the strength of
belief about the likelihood of an event and (2) the perceived level of seriousness of experiencing the
event.
> E.g., it says that many of your decisions, including fear of crime is a combo of the strengths of your
beliefs and your experiences. You're less likely to do it, the higher your fear is.
Social Cognition Model: Fear of crime !!!
This model argues that you can gain an understanding of how people make JUDEGEMENTS by
examining how they employ a variety of COGNITIVE PROCESSES to evaluate SOCIAL INFORMATION
Social Cognition Model !!!
Input biases -> processing biases -> output biases -> judgement -> behaviour
Input biases !!!
How to get information through to people
Vividness (input) !!!
When making a decision, the tendency to place extra cognitive weight on information that is bizarre,
abnormal or dramatic. Kind of like manipulating your biases.
Cognitive misers (input) !!!
A normal (common/ most people do this) tendency for humans to spend as little cognitive effort as
possible on tasks unless provided with adequate opportunity and motivation
Negativity (input) !!!
When making a decision, the tendency to place extra weight on information that portrays
individuals, issues, and objects in a less favourable light
Preseverance (input) !!!
When making a decision, the tendency to place extra cognitive weight on the information, even after
it has been proven to be false.
,> having a 10/10 view on a person until finding out 1 negative fact about them, completely throwing
out the good perception on them.
>> e.g., Duyen's Camillo: good looking, intelligent, etc. - BUT SMOKES.
Primacy (input) !!!
When making a decision, the tendency to place extra cognitive weight on earlier information and
less cognitive weight on later information.
> Be very careful about the first impression - or primacy effect will take place
Availability (input) !!!
When making the decision, the tendency to place more cognitive weight on information that is
readily available compared to information that must be sought out.
> The availability bias says that if you can find the information easily - you'll take it- you don't want
to think about it more than you have to, especially when you're not motivated.
Representative Heuristic (processing bias)
When making a decision, the tendency to employ emotionally - evoking stimuli and false beliefs
rather than logic and common-sense (Gambler's Fallacy)
Illusory Correlation (processing bias)
When making a decision, the tendency to believe that two events are causally related simply due to
the fact that they occur within close proximity
Simulation Heuristic (processing bias)
When making a decision, the tendency to spend less cognitive effort on situations where one cannot
imagine themselves ever being in
False Consensus (processing bias)
When making a decision, the tendency to believe that ones position is reflective on the majority
Priming (processing bias)
When making a decision, the tendency to be influenced by unrelated stimuli or memories
> memory bias
, > e.g., having your car broken into when you're about to mark tests, thus influencing you to mark
tests more harshly
Framing (processing bias) !!!
When making a decision, the tendency to be influenced by concentration on a cognitive anchor and
then framing the decision about the factor
Response bias (output bias) !!!
The tendency to behave contrary to ones decision due to social influences
Functional fixedness (output bias) !!!
The inability to apply a logical decision due to the cognitive categorisation one holds about another
person.
> e.g., I won't date John because I see him as a brother
Types of memory
- sensory memory
- short-term memory
- long-term memory
Sensory memory
Refers to the very short duration for which sense-based information is held post-exposure
Short-term memory
Refers to the limited amount of information (7+ or -2 meaningful units) which can be stored without
rehearsal for a short duration (approximately 30 seconds)
Long-term memory
Refers to the almost unlimited amount of information which can be stored over a lifetime with
rehearsal
Reliability
The reliability of information is an important factor across the forensic domain, including:
Public experiences:
- Surveys which ask people to estimate their experience of crime during a specific time period
Police records:
- Includes crime reports as well as recorded crimes
Court statistics:
- Composed of data on the number and type of court cases
Prison statistics:
- Composed of data on the number of prisoners and the crimes for which they were sentenced
Offender statistics:
- Gather information on number and type of offences committed. They will happily tell you to reduce
their sentence, however they will be lying acquiescence
Subjective perceptions of crime
- Are often very different from actual (objective) crime rates
- Are very important for a variety of lifestyle decisions such as where to live, where to visit, where to
go to school
- Are heavily influenced by 'framing'
Cultivation Theory (fear of crime theory)
Suggests that heavy consumption of mass media (>4 hours a day) leads to unrealistic perception of
crime rates and a subsequent higher level of fear of crime
> E.g., if you watch a lot of TV or read a lot of newspapers, anything related to the news will increase
your fear of crime. Exposing yourself to at least 4 hours a day of social media will increase your fears
,Cognitive Theory (fear of crime theory)
Suggests that fear of crime is the product of a cognitive calculation of 2 factors- (1) the strength of
belief about the likelihood of an event and (2) the perceived level of seriousness of experiencing the
event.
> E.g., it says that many of your decisions, including fear of crime is a combo of the strengths of your
beliefs and your experiences. You're less likely to do it, the higher your fear is.
Social Cognition Model: Fear of crime !!!
This model argues that you can gain an understanding of how people make JUDEGEMENTS by
examining how they employ a variety of COGNITIVE PROCESSES to evaluate SOCIAL INFORMATION
Social Cognition Model !!!
Input biases -> processing biases -> output biases -> judgement -> behaviour
Input biases !!!
How to get information through to people
Vividness (input) !!!
When making a decision, the tendency to place extra cognitive weight on information that is bizarre,
abnormal or dramatic. Kind of like manipulating your biases.
Cognitive misers (input) !!!
A normal (common/ most people do this) tendency for humans to spend as little cognitive effort as
possible on tasks unless provided with adequate opportunity and motivation
Negativity (input) !!!
When making a decision, the tendency to place extra weight on information that portrays
individuals, issues, and objects in a less favourable light
Preseverance (input) !!!
When making a decision, the tendency to place extra cognitive weight on the information, even after
it has been proven to be false.
,> having a 10/10 view on a person until finding out 1 negative fact about them, completely throwing
out the good perception on them.
>> e.g., Duyen's Camillo: good looking, intelligent, etc. - BUT SMOKES.
Primacy (input) !!!
When making a decision, the tendency to place extra cognitive weight on earlier information and
less cognitive weight on later information.
> Be very careful about the first impression - or primacy effect will take place
Availability (input) !!!
When making the decision, the tendency to place more cognitive weight on information that is
readily available compared to information that must be sought out.
> The availability bias says that if you can find the information easily - you'll take it- you don't want
to think about it more than you have to, especially when you're not motivated.
Representative Heuristic (processing bias)
When making a decision, the tendency to employ emotionally - evoking stimuli and false beliefs
rather than logic and common-sense (Gambler's Fallacy)
Illusory Correlation (processing bias)
When making a decision, the tendency to believe that two events are causally related simply due to
the fact that they occur within close proximity
Simulation Heuristic (processing bias)
When making a decision, the tendency to spend less cognitive effort on situations where one cannot
imagine themselves ever being in
False Consensus (processing bias)
When making a decision, the tendency to believe that ones position is reflective on the majority
Priming (processing bias)
When making a decision, the tendency to be influenced by unrelated stimuli or memories
> memory bias
, > e.g., having your car broken into when you're about to mark tests, thus influencing you to mark
tests more harshly
Framing (processing bias) !!!
When making a decision, the tendency to be influenced by concentration on a cognitive anchor and
then framing the decision about the factor
Response bias (output bias) !!!
The tendency to behave contrary to ones decision due to social influences
Functional fixedness (output bias) !!!
The inability to apply a logical decision due to the cognitive categorisation one holds about another
person.
> e.g., I won't date John because I see him as a brother
Types of memory
- sensory memory
- short-term memory
- long-term memory
Sensory memory
Refers to the very short duration for which sense-based information is held post-exposure
Short-term memory
Refers to the limited amount of information (7+ or -2 meaningful units) which can be stored without
rehearsal for a short duration (approximately 30 seconds)
Long-term memory
Refers to the almost unlimited amount of information which can be stored over a lifetime with
rehearsal
Reliability
The reliability of information is an important factor across the forensic domain, including:
