Different types of psychology Flashcards
what do forensic psychologists do
- assess offenders
- help provide treatment/intervention for offenders
- give expert witness testimony in court
- are involved in criminal profiling* conduct research
what is assessment in forensic psychology?
- Is this person likely to re-offend?
- Did the treatment work?
- Is this person likely to harm themselves or others (in prison)?
- Is this person competent to stand trial?
- Was this person ‘sane’ at the time of the crime?
How do forensic psychologists treat and intervene?
General approach:
* Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
Specific interventions:
* Social Skills training
* Anger management
* Does it work (for everyone)?
what is an expert witness? (forensic psychologist)
- Not a ‘witness’ in the literal sense*
Does not comment on whether they think the defendant is guilty - Provide a court or tribunal with specialist information
- The Turner Rule: common knowledge about ordinary people
- But: Milgram’s obedience experiments…
- ‘battered woman syndrome
what is criminal profiling? (forensic psychology)
- Social and psychological assessment of the person (based on their behaviour)
- Psychological evaluation of possessions found with suspected offenders
- Provide advice on how best to interview a suspect, based on their (assumed) personality and characteristics
what psychological theories are related to forensic psychology?
- Social learning theory
- Cognitive behavioural theory
Theories about personality (disorders)
* Personality influenced by interaction with environment?
* Personality is biological and fixed? (how consistent is your behaviour really?)
what is bandura’s social learning theory?
Learning bad behaviour
Rehabilitation: learning good behaviour
what is the cognitive behavioural theory?
The way you think influences criminal behaviour:
- All-or-nothing “I felt angry yesterday. I was aiming to never feel angry again. There’s no point in working on this.
• Filtering “My situation is hopeless – look, here are all of the things that have gone wrong in my life…” - Labeling “I’m a loser/bad person/criminal/ - that’s why I always end up in trouble”
- Emotional reasoning (e.g., thinking that the world is out to get you, because you feel in a bad mood yourself)
what are some research methods used in forensic psychology?
- Case studies (e.g., measuring effectiveness of intervention methods)
- Correlational studies (e.g., correlation between emotional intelligence and accuracy of eyewitness testimony)
- Experimental studies (e.g., do criminal stereotypes influence fingerprint identification?)
- Qualitative studies (e.g., what are the difficulties experienced by prison staff in a high-risk unit? How do offenders see themselves?)
what happened in smalarz et al (2016)
Do criminal stereotypes bias forensic evidence analysis?
- People have shared beliefs about‘typical characteristics’ of:
- terrorists
- child molesters
- drug dealers
- Hypothesis: The evaluation of forensic evidence is biased by criminal stereotypes
- Participants: 225 students from Midwestern US university
- They were presented with one of two crime descriptions:
- child molestation (stereotyped crime)
- identify theft (non-stereotyped crime)
- Results: a white man and Asian woman both scored around 30% in the percentage of matched judgement for identity theft but white man scored around 50% for child molestation whereas the asian women only scored around 30%
Participants were not aware of their bias
what happened in loannou et al?
- Offenders’ crime narratives across different types of crimes
- Central character: offender
- Plot: storyline that explains why offender commits the crime
- What we know - Youngs & Canter (2011, 2012):
- The Professional
- The Revenger
- The Victim
- The Hero
- What we do not yet know:
Which crimes are associated with which ‘roles’? - Participants: 120 convicted offenders in North England prison
- Narrative Roles Questionnaire: ‘what was it like when you committed the offense?’
- “it was interesting”
- “i had to do it”
- “nothing else mattered”
- ” i was in control”
- Results:
- property offenses: 50% hero, 35% professional, 10% revenger and 5% victim
- drug offenses: 35% hero, 40% professional, 10% revenger and victim
- robbery: 50% hero, 30% professional, 10% revenger, 5% victim
3 roles of a forensic psychologist
What led to the crime?
How will they behave in the future?
What specific plan is best for this person?
what is the role of a clinical psychologist?
“Clinical psychology aims to reduce psychological distress and to enhance the promotion of psychological well-being” - the British Psychological Society
what are the direct clinical roles of a clinical psychologist? (assessment)
- Psychological assessment:
- Using interviews, questionnaires, observations
- Individuals, groups, families, staff or carers
- Considering a holistic view of an individual presenting problems
- Risk assessment: risk of harm to self and/or others, drugs/alcohol, domestic violence, child protection
- Cognitive assessment using standardised test batteries(e.g. Wechsler’s Adult Intelligence Scale, WAIS)
- Neuropsychological assessment using standardised test batteries (e.g. Behavioural Assessment of DysexecutiveFunctioning, BADS)
- Assessment of social interaction and communication (e.g.Autistic Diagnostic Observation Scale, ADOS)
what are the direct clinical roles of a clinical psychologist? (psychological formulation)
- Psychological formulation
- A provisional explanation for the patient’s presenting problems
- It hypothesises potential causes, precipitants and maintaining influences
- It is based on a thorough assessment- It draws from existing psychological theories
- It guides intervention
- It is a working hypothesis that may change should new information become available or circumstances change -this is called re-formulation
what are the direct clinical roles of a clinical psychologist? (interventions)
*Psychological interventions including therapy
- This may relate to mental health and physical health conditions
- Can be individual or group based
- Can be outpatient or inpatient
what are the direct clinical roles of a clinical psychologist? (therapy)
- Which therapy?
- There are a number of different psychological therapies in existence
- These are guided by specific underlying psychological theories
- Some overlap exists between different therapies but each are distinct
- Some therapies are designed for particular presenting problem
- Clinical psychologists are formally trained in at least two therapies, but often specialise in other therapeutic modalities post-qualification through CPD
- Psychological therapies may look a little different depending on the area of specialism (e.g. CBT can be adapted for use in learning disabilities, child, older adults)
- Psychological interventions are broader than direct therapy.
what are the indirect clinical roles of a clinical psychologist? (consultation)
- Consultation
- Consultation to other health and social care professionals
- Across a range of disciplines (e.g. psychiatry, occupational therapy, nursing)
- Provides a psychological perspective on the presenting problem of the patient
- Attendance at CMHT meetings
what are the indirect clinical roles of a clinical psychologist? (supervision)
- Clinical supervision to junior clinical psychologists, trainees and assistants
- Research supervision of doctoral clinical psychology thesis projects
- Clinical supervision to other multidisciplinary professionals on using particular psychological therapies (e.g. CBT
what are the indirect clinical roles of a clinical psychologist? (service development)
- Promotion of health service policies within the context of government drivers
- Development and management of psychological services within financial constraints
what are the indirect clinical roles of a clinical psychologist? (other)
- Teaching/lecturing for UG psychology students and clinical psychology trainees
- Administration (e.g. writing letters to GPs and other health professionals)
- CPD (Continuous Professional Development)
- Court reports for medico-legal cases
what is the main role of clinical psychologists?
- The role is extremely varied – no one clinical psychologist does exactly the same job as another
- There are many different aspects of work, with a variety of client groups in a wide range of settings
- There is no one ‘role’ but a number of roles, each carried out to varying degrees by individual clinical psychologists
what are the specialist areas available for clinical psychologists?
- Child and Adolescence
- Learning Disabilities
- Adult Mental Health
- Older Adults
- Physical Health
- Forensics
- Neuropsychology
- Substance Misuse
- Eating Disorders
- many others
where do clinical psychologists work?
- Clinical psychologists work largely in health and social care settings including hospitals, health centres, community mental health teams and social services
- They may also provide input to settings such as schools, nursing homes, prisons and voluntary sector agencies
- Clinical psychologists often work as part of a team with other health professions (e.g. nursing,occupational therapy, social work, psychiatry,general medicine)
- Almost all clinical psychologists in the UK are employed by the NHS but some work in private practice – it is possible to do both
what was freud’s psychoanalysis theory?
1900s
Freud theorised that during crucial stages of development, the interactions between the child and parents led to long-lasting effects on personality functioning as an adult.
He believed that as patients reviewed their relationships in therapy, the therapist began to symbolise important figures in the patient’s life. This led to early relational feelings being transferred to the therapist.
This theory suggested that the reliving of early emotional experiences led to insight in the patient, so that repressed stressful memories and feelings were released, allowing normal functioning to return
what is skinner’s behaviourism theory?
1920s
Skinner believed that during development, certain behaviours became reinforced depending on rewards and punishments experienced by individuals.
Behaviours were viewed as being based on anything from simple to complex physiological or psychological stimuli.
Behavioural therapies are based on the premise that emotions can be changed if behaviour is changed.
Behaviour theory today has evolved and modified to include cognitive factors and has greater complexity in approaching clinical problems
what is Gestalt’s humanist theory?
1940s
This theory approached psychological problems using greater acceptance of individuality, sharing of feelings, and genuine regard for the person, whatever the behaviour.
Mental health problems were theorised to result from “the failure to realize the fullness of one’s humanity” (Richly, 1981) and thus were treated with compassion and acceptance.
The effectiveness of therapy relied on the human encounter between the therapist and the patient, who changed due to trust and the belief in the genuineness of the regard for the patient.
what is the cognitive revolution?
1950s-70s
The cognitive revolution involved the scientific investigation of human cognition, that is, all our mental abilities – perceiving, learning, remembering, thinking, reasoning,and understanding.
Cognitive psychology is based on two assumptions:
(1) Human cognition can at least in principle be fully revealed by the scientific method, that is, individual components of mental processes can be identified and understood
(2) Internal mental processes can be described in terms of rules or algorithms in information processing models
what is a clinical psychologists role in psychological assessment?
When you receive a new referral the initial information you receive is likely to be minimal. In an initial psychological assessment it is therefore important to start building a clearer picture of the patient,their difficulties and what they want to change or work on in therapy.
how do clinical psychologists do research
- Clinical Psychology is predominantly an applied role involving clinical duties
- However, there is an expectation that research is part of the job
- In some job roles this is a minimal requirement due to practical constraints
- Some Clinical Psychologists choose to make research a bigger part of their job
doctoral thesis (clinical psychology)
- Clinical psychology training involves the design, implementation and write-up of a major research project (doctoral thesis)
- The topic is chosen by the trainee where possible and guided by available resources and practical constraints(access to population, timescale etc.)
- The research is jointly supervised by at least two Clinical Psychologists – one working within their local health board and one based at the University
what methods are used in clinical psychology
- The research methods used in Clinical Psychology are, at the core, no different from those used in UG psychology degrees
- The research can be qualitative or quantitative
- It can involve be as small scale as a case series (a number of individual case studies) or involve hundreds of participants
- Data collection might involve the use of questionnaires, interviews, observations, standardised assessments and (less often) experimental paradigms
- The defining feature of Clinical Psychology research is that the findings are clinically relevant, have the potential to improve or change clinical practice, or aid our understanding of the experience of clinical conditions
- This might involve patients, carers, health professionals and (less often) non-clinical populations
what is a clinical audit? (clinical psychology)
- In addition to research, Clinical Psychologists carry out Clinical Audit
- Clinical audit evaluates whether existing clinical knowledge, skills and resources are being used appropriately, and effectively
- It involves the systematic evaluation of clinical practice (individual or group)
- The aim is to improve the delivery of healthcare
