Summary of the book Legal Psychology by Rassin (2020). Completely covers every chapter and everything I deemed the most important to remember - I will study for the exam just using this summary.
ISBN 6938
Complete samenvatting van het boek Legal Psychology door Rassin (2020). Elk hoofdstuk is apa...
CH1 - The Legal Context
A legal psychologist is concerned with the first legal question of art. 350 Sv.; a forensic
psychologist with the third and fourth question.
How do we establish perpetratorship? Despite the legal context, it is not by legal expertise.
And it is not by absolute fact finding, as would be the case in scientific research. It is more like
a historical endeavor: the judge decides whether there is enough incriminating evidence
(gathered by police in a casefile) to convict the suspect. As long as there are at least two pieces
of independent incriminating evidence the judge is free to display some cherry picking to
favour these over potential pieces of exonerating evidence.
In our inquisitorial system, experts are hired by the court and are thus expected to deliver
unbiased quality content. The system is truth-centred.
In an adversarial system, both parties (defence and prosecution) can bring their own
experts. This system seems to be more sensitive to biased and skewed expert writing.
Civil procedures in the Netherlands have an adversarial system, because fact finding is not
the main concern; it is to decide who is the most right. Information not included in either
party's claims will not be discussed. The legal facts can be remote from the factual truth, as
long as both parties agree on it.
CH2 - Psychological Science
The 4 concurrent approaches in psychology are:
1. Psychodynamics (Freud: the 5 predetermined stages; id(es)-ego(ich)-superego(Überich)/
the unconscious; defence mechanisms; indirect/projective techniques);
2. Behaviourism (overt behaviour; Ockham's razor; Darwinism; tabula rasa; Pavlov’s classical
conditioning; the mere exposure hypothesis; Skinner’s operant conditioning);
Thorndike's law of effect: the idea that behaviour can be shaped with reward and
punishment. Successful application requires that the test subject perceives a causal
relation between behaviour and consequence. Five circumstances that make such
perception likely are: covariation, chronology, contiguity (closeness in time), similarity
(equality of cause and effect, proportionality in harshness), and absence of alternative
causes.
The punitive goal of deterrence is rooted in behavioural principles (specific and
general prevention by vicarious learning/modelling).
3. Cognitivism (midway between behaviourism and opening the black box of the mind;
memory; perception; language)
Dogs that were punished with inescapable shocks would at some point become
apathic and stop attempting to escape at all (learned helplessness), thus only measuring
overt behaviour (behaviourism) wasn’t enough to explain everything;
4. Neuroscience. Neuroscientific journals have a relatively high impact factor, at least in 1999.
Even though this approach is very popular, one must be careful with interpreting for
example fMRI and EEG data (physiological measures), the correlation between brain
activity and related behaviour might not be as strong as we think - there could be an
overlooked high percentage of false positives because each pixel of the fMRI reflects a
statistical test. Additionally, not nearly all psychological concepts have biological
counterparts.
Popper: confirmation does not count as evidence, except for when it’s the result of a failed attempt
to falsify and it concerns a wild, risky prediction.
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller KFoster. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $6.96. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
