Forensic Psychology Exam 1 (Gelfand) Qs &
As Graded A+ !!
Forensic Psychology
A subfield of psychology in which basic and applied psychological science or scientifically-oriented
professional practice is applied to the law to help resolve legal, contractual, or administrative matters
What do forensic psychologists do?
psychologists who help courts make decisions about people when some question related to
psychology is involved
pre-adjudication
before the legal decision is made
overlap of forensic with other fields + examples
Cognitive Psychology: Eyewitness Identification
Physiological Psychology: Polygraphs
Social Psychology:
Jury Behavior
Developmental Psychology:
Testimony of children in court
Correctional Psychology:
Prisons and Jails
Police Psychology
: Criminal profiling, fitness for duty evaluations, hostage negotiations
Clinical Psychology:
Assessment and treatment of individuals within a legal context
Psychopathy, insanity, risk assessment, personal injury, civil commitment
Criminal Law
acts against society
focus: punish offenders, deter crime
defendant and prosecution
mens rea
guilty mind
Civil Law
a wrong against an individual
private rights and remedies
, defendant and plaintiff
torts
a wrongful act that causes harm to an individual
reality of forensic practice
10% of forensic psychologists do criminal profiling
Criminal side is overemphasized; civil understudied
Criteria of a Psychopath
superficial charm, absence of "nervousness", unreliability, untruthfulness and insincerity, lack of
remorse or shame, inadequately motivated , poor judgment and failure to learn by experience,
general poverty in major affective reactions, specific loss of insight, unresponsiveness in interpersonal
relations, and failure to follow any life plan
Primary Psychopathy
Prototypical psychopathy
Antisocial acts, irresponsible, lacking empathy, superficially charming
Secondary Psychopathy
Not inherent, cause lies in factors such as low intelligence, some sort of social disadvantage, and
impulsivity driven by anxiety
Doesn't have the heart of a psychopath
Criminology
the study of crime and criminal behavior
serious offending
rate of violent crime dropped sharply between 1993 and 2001
The rate of violent crime is still relatively high despite recent decreases
men are the highest risk group for violent victimization
school violence
youth deaths in schools showed no overall increase between 1992 and 2012
sensitivity
rate of true positives
How accurately a test identifies people who have the disease
Specificity
rate of true negatives
How accurately a test identifies people who do NOT have the disease
true positive
Sick people correctly identified as sick
As Graded A+ !!
Forensic Psychology
A subfield of psychology in which basic and applied psychological science or scientifically-oriented
professional practice is applied to the law to help resolve legal, contractual, or administrative matters
What do forensic psychologists do?
psychologists who help courts make decisions about people when some question related to
psychology is involved
pre-adjudication
before the legal decision is made
overlap of forensic with other fields + examples
Cognitive Psychology: Eyewitness Identification
Physiological Psychology: Polygraphs
Social Psychology:
Jury Behavior
Developmental Psychology:
Testimony of children in court
Correctional Psychology:
Prisons and Jails
Police Psychology
: Criminal profiling, fitness for duty evaluations, hostage negotiations
Clinical Psychology:
Assessment and treatment of individuals within a legal context
Psychopathy, insanity, risk assessment, personal injury, civil commitment
Criminal Law
acts against society
focus: punish offenders, deter crime
defendant and prosecution
mens rea
guilty mind
Civil Law
a wrong against an individual
private rights and remedies
, defendant and plaintiff
torts
a wrongful act that causes harm to an individual
reality of forensic practice
10% of forensic psychologists do criminal profiling
Criminal side is overemphasized; civil understudied
Criteria of a Psychopath
superficial charm, absence of "nervousness", unreliability, untruthfulness and insincerity, lack of
remorse or shame, inadequately motivated , poor judgment and failure to learn by experience,
general poverty in major affective reactions, specific loss of insight, unresponsiveness in interpersonal
relations, and failure to follow any life plan
Primary Psychopathy
Prototypical psychopathy
Antisocial acts, irresponsible, lacking empathy, superficially charming
Secondary Psychopathy
Not inherent, cause lies in factors such as low intelligence, some sort of social disadvantage, and
impulsivity driven by anxiety
Doesn't have the heart of a psychopath
Criminology
the study of crime and criminal behavior
serious offending
rate of violent crime dropped sharply between 1993 and 2001
The rate of violent crime is still relatively high despite recent decreases
men are the highest risk group for violent victimization
school violence
youth deaths in schools showed no overall increase between 1992 and 2012
sensitivity
rate of true positives
How accurately a test identifies people who have the disease
Specificity
rate of true negatives
How accurately a test identifies people who do NOT have the disease
true positive
Sick people correctly identified as sick
