Methods of Forensic Psychology Intro to Forensic Psychology

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Methods of Forensic PsychologyIntro to
Forensic Psychology
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• Given the wide variety of roles that forensic
  psychologists play, it should come as no surprise
  that there are many techniques that they employ.
• Further, there are many career paths that may
  lead one to be involved in forensic psychology.

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Area of Specialization
Clinical
Experimental
Legal

• Assessment tools
• Intervention effectiveness
• Epidemiology of relevant behavior and disorders

• Mental health law
• Other law relevant to health and science
• Legal movements

• Memory
• Perception
• Child development
• Group decision making

Research/ Scholarship

• Consultation
• Jury selection
• Litigation strategy
• State of the science
• Expert testimony on the science

Applied
Policy and legislative consultation

• Forensic assessment
• Treatment in a legal context

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• Though individuals involved in forensic
  psychology are at least nominally aiming for
  similar goals, there are some fairly regular
  tensions between how the legal side and the
  psychological sides tend to interact and consider
  data.

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• 1. Emphasis on precedent.
• Stare decisis what has already been decided
• 2. Emphasis on probabilistic versus specific
  cases.
• Can individuals predict who will offend again?
• Emphasis on personal experience versus
  experimentation
• Tolerance for ambiguity
• 3. Ecological validity of experiments