Module 1

Question 1

What is forensic psych?

Answer 1

Forensic psychology at its core is the study of
people as they interact with the legal system.

Question 2

What are different ways of knowing?

Answer 2

Experience, Intuition, Research, Authority

Question 3

Experience

Answer 3

Gaining knowledge by direct observation or
personal sensory experience

Question 4

Intuition

Answer 4

Accepting ideas as valid because they “feel”
true/right, you have a “gut” feeling (cognitive heuristics)

Question 4

Authority

Answer 4

Accepting ideas because they came from a
respected source

Question 5

Clinical Forensic Psychology

Answer 5

professional practice of psychology
within both civil and criminal law

Question 6

Experimental Forensic Psychology

Answer 6

research that examines aspects of
human behaviour directly related to the legal
process

Question 7

research that examines aspects of
human behaviour directly related to the legal
process

Answer 7

First Era: The birth of legal psychology, Second Era: The dormant years, Third Era: Birth of the Modern Era

Question 8

Wilhelm Wundt’s laboratory

Answer 8

• Basic principles of psychology (memory,
  perception, sensation) and how it applied to
  business, education, law, etc.
• There were no “forensic psychologists” – only
  applied psychologists that also happen to look at
  the law

Question 9

Cattell (A student of Wundt’s)

Answer 9

• First experiments in “psychology of testimony”
• Asked students about things they have witnessed
  in their everyday life
• How confident are you? (1 = not at all, 2 =
  somewhat, 3 = I am right)
  ex: Hae min Lee..6 weeks later

Question 10

Binet

Answer 10

• Suggestibility in children
• Open: “What did you see”
• Direct: “How was the button attached to the board?”
• Mildly leading: “Wasn’t the button attached by a
  thread?”
• Highly misleading: “What was the colour of the thread
  that attached the button to the board?

Question 11

Stern

Answer 11

• Research on testimony
• “reality experiment”

Question 12

Hugo Munsterberg (student of Wundt’s)

Answer 12

• Father of forensic psychology
• “On the Witness Stand”
• Psychologists had all the answers, lawyers
  were too stupid to realize this

Question 13

William Marston

Answer 13

• Obtained a law degree and psychology PhD from
  Harvard
• First person to be hired as “Professor of Legal
  Psychology at the American University
• Focus of Frye v. United States (1923)

Question 14

When can we use “experts”

Answer 14

Frye + Mohan

Question 15

Frye test

Answer 15

• 1) research must be peer-reviewed
• 2) research is testable (falsifiable)
• 3) research has a recognized rate of error
• 4) research adheres to professional standards

Question 16

Mohan

Answer 16

• 1) Evidence must be relevant
• 2) Evidence must be necessary
• 3) Evidence must not violate other rules of exclusion
  (prejudice vs. probative value)
• 4) Presented by qualified expert