What Is Forensic Psychology, Anyway?

"The story of the subconscious mind

can be told in three words:

there is none." --Hugo Münsterberg

The field of forensic psychology has been growing rapidly in recent years. This applied branch of psychology gained recognition with the huge increase in fictional TV shows such as Criminal Minds and CSI which have misinterpreted mainstream society’s view of this filed.  By following the latest television dramas one might think that the main task of a forensic psychologist is to help the police to catch serial killers or profile sex offenders. Although these popular notions regarding forensic psychology may be true in some areas, they do not represent the wide variety of tasks that a trained forensic psychologist can do. My goal is to introduce you to the real world of forensic psychology. In this blog I will briefly discuss the definition and history of Forensic Psychology. In addition I will explain the details about the role of forensic psychology in the three different branches of the criminal justice system – police, Court and correction- in my upcoming blogs.

According to the American Psychological Association(APA), forensic psychology is the “professional practice by psychologists within the areas of clinical psychology, counselling psychology, neuropsychology, and school psychology, when they are engaged regularly as experts and represent themselves as such, in an activity primarily intended to provide professional psychological expertise to the judicial system”(APA, 2011).

This description considers forensic psychology as a branch of applied psychology. Professor Anne Bartol of Castleton State College defines forensic psychology as both a research endeavor that studies characteristics of human behavior related to the legal system such as eyewitness memory, criminal behavior, and the practice of psychology within the legal system, which covers both criminal and civil law (Bartol, 2005). Clinical Psychologistswith training in forensics can be certified through the American Board of Professional Psychology. There is a Psychiatry and Behavioural Science section of the American Academy of ForensicSciences, which is the most interdisciplinary organization available to forensic psychologists (Heilbrun and Brooks, 2010).

To fully appreciate the field of forensic psychology, it is important to understand the historical facts that shaped the identity of this discipline. Forensic psychology was introduced for the first time over a hundred years ago. In 1873 Wilhelm Wundt founded the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany. He conducted experiments in areas such as witness testimony and criminal evaluation, which are still being used today.

Hugo Munsterberg was one of the first psychologists that studied under Wilhelm Wundt in Germany before moving to the United States in 1892. He set up a laboratory at Harvard University to do experiments on how psychology could be used in the legal system. His work included research on false confessions, witness memory and hypnosis in court.

In 1895, James McKeen Cattellthe head of the Psychology, Anthropology, and Philosophy departments at Columbia University, conducted some experiments that influenced the psychology of testimony. One of Cattell’s goals was to establish psychology as a legitimate science (Bartol& Bartol, 1999 P426).

In 1908 Munsterberg published a book titled "On the Witness Stand" regarding the subject of applying psychology to legal trials. In 1917 one of Munsterberg’s students named William Marston discovered the correlation between systolic blood pressure and whether someone was lying. This discovery led to the development of the polygraph. In 1923, Marston testified in the case of Frye vs. United States and his testimony set the precedent for the use of expert witnesses in court cases.

After World War II psychologists were fully recognized as credible witnesses. This happened in 1940 with the case of People v. Hawthorne. In this case the courts ruled the extent of an expert witness' knowledgewas more important than whether or not they held a medical degree. In 1962, in the case of Jenkins v. United States forensic, psychology experts gained more credibility, where psychologists served as specialists in a mental illness case. Since that timeforensic psychology has come into its own. In 2001, American Psychological Association identified forensic psychology as a speciality within psychology . (Gudjonsson and Haward, 1998 P22-23).

References

Arrigo, B. A. (2000). Introduction to forensic psychology: issues and controversies in crime and justice. San Diego: Academic Press.

Bartol, A. M., & Bartol, C. R. (1999). History of forensic psychology. In Handbook offorensic psychology, 2, 452-470. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Gudjonsson, G. H., & Haward, L. R. (1998). Forensic psychology: a guide to practice. London: Routledge.

Heilbrun, K. , & Brooks, S. (2010). Forensic psychology and forensic science: A

             proposed agenda for the next decade. Psychology Public Policy and Law,

            16(3), 219-253.

Public Description of Forensic Psychology.(n.d.). American Psychological

           Association (APA). Retrieved February 10, 2011, from

           http://www.apa.org/ed/graduate/specialize/forensic.aspx

Otto, R. K., & Heilbrun, K. (2002). The practice of forensic psychology: A look

           toward the future in light of the past. American Psychologist, 57(1), 5-18.