PSYCH 230Introduction to

Psychology and the Law

Plan for today:

- Course outline

- What is Law and Psychology?

- Class experiment

Psychology and the Law

The law touches nearly every aspect of our daily lives:

Buying this book.

Driving your car.

Taking an aspirin.

Getting dressed.

Psychology

• Human behavior lies at the heart of psychology and the law.

Psychology – is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes in an attempt to understand, predict, and in some cases control human behavior

(Kassin, 1998).

The Law

IT DEPENDS.

• The legal system is comprised of a body of laws, rules, regulations, and procedures.

• The legal system is designed to govern, regulate and control human behavior

(Ogloff & Finkelman, 1999).

Psychology and the Law

• Concerns “issues arising out of the relationship between human behavior and the law, legal system, and legal process” (Weiner, 1997)

• Psychologists working in law and psychology study empirically the assumptions about human behavior that underlie the operation and functioning of the law.

• Social scientists assess the reasonableness and validity of the evidence

Differences between Law and Psychology

1. Stare decisis vs. Creativity

2. Hierarchical vs. Empirical

3. Adversarial vs. Experimental

4. Prescriptive vs. Descriptive

5. Idiographic vs. Nomothetic

6. Certainty vs. Probablistic

7. Reactive vs. Proactive

8. Operational vs. Academic

Psychology/Law

• Psychology in the law

• Psychology and the law

• Psychology of the law

Forensic vs. Experimental Psychology

Forensics

- Clinical

- Assessment, treatment, research

Experimental

- Non-clinical

- Cognitive/Perceptual, Social, Developmental, Abnormal

Perception

• Count the number of ‘f’s in the following text

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS.

Perception

• How many did you count?

• Would you be willing to testify to that fact in court under oath?

• There are 6 f’s in the passage.

Perception

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS.