Chapter 2 - Police Psychology Flashcards
Job Analysis
A procedure for identifying the knowledge, skills and abilities that make a good police officer.
Police Selection Procedures
A set of procedures used by the police to either screen out undesirable candidates or select in desirable candidates.
Predictive Validity
The ability to use a selection instrument to predict how applicants will perform in the future.
Selection Interview
In recruiting police officers, an interview used by the police to determine the extent to which an applicant possesses the knowledge, skills and abilities deemed important for the job.
Cognitive Ability Test
Procedure for measuring verbal, mathematical, memory and reasoning abilities.
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
An assessment instrument for identifying people with psychopathological problems.
Inwald Personality Inventory
An assessment instrument used to identify police applicants who are suitable for police work by measuring their personality attributes and behaviour patterns.
Assessment Centre
A facility in which the behaviour of police applicants can be observed in a number of situations by multiple observers.
Situational Test
A simulation of a real-world policing task.
Police Discretion
The freedom that a police officer often has for deciding what should be done in any given situation.
Use-of-force Continuum
A model that is supposed to guide police officer decision making in use-of-force situations by indicating what level of force is appropriate given the suspect’s behaviour and other environmental conditions.
Occupational Stressors
In policing, stressors relating to the job itself.
Organizational Stressors
In policing, stressors relating to organizational issues.
Psychological Debriefing
A psychologically oriented intervention delivered to police officers following exposure to an event that resulted in psychological distress and an impairment of normal functioning.
