AMU 250 forensic psychology and Experimental Discussion

For this Discussion, in your Initial Post you will share with your classmates your observations from your research on Experimental and Forensic Psychology as subspecialties and career options.

Please be sure to address BOTH subspecialties in your response to each question. Points will be deducted if both subspecialties are not clearly and separately addressed.

1) After researching these areas, do you find them to be career possibilities you are interested in or careers that don’t capture your interest? Why or why not?
2) What is at least one thing you learned about each of the two subspecialties that you did not previously know?
3) Describe a “real-world” application for each of the two subspecialties. How could knowledge gained through the pursuit of each subspecialty help us to understand everyday problems, dilemmas, or situations? Note: your answer does not have to be specific to psychology as a field. Think broadly; psychological principles can apply to many different fields.

Sources

Careers in Psychology- Forensic Psychology Careers – https://careersinpsychology.org/becoming-a-forensi…

What is a Forensic Psychologist? – https://www.youtube.com/embed/H3-p1QnHrVk?wmode=opaque&rel=0

Experimental Psychology Careers – https://careersinpsychology.org/experimental-psychology-careers/

10 Psychological Experiments You Would Never Believe Happened – https://www.youtube.com/embed/_qH2q59pSZc?wmode=opaque&rel=0

The Psych Files- Did Your Therapy Really Work? – http://www.thepsychfiles.com/2015/07/ep-243-did-your-therapy-really-work/

When responding to each classmate, don’t just say you agree with their post, give them some insight, maybe they missed some information.. can add to their post.

Response #1 (150 words +)

Hello Class,

Experimental psychology is not really something I would want to have my sole focus in, but some degree of it is applied to every career in psychology. This makes me think of all the famous psychologist we read about, although I know they aren’t the only one’s who used it this way, and that they also had different focuses of study. I don’t want to spend my career doing experiments and research, I would rather do that throughout my time in school. I really didn’t know this was even it’s own thing because it intertwines into all levels of psychology in some way. I do think it would be a useful field of concentration because the problem solving and critical thinking abilities of the individual would be improved upon daily, allowing them to adapt to any career or position. Forensic psychology doesn’t seem realistic for me to pursue even though I like the idea of it. I picture it too much like tv shows portray it, which is always with the best in the field. I’m sure it could be learned and improved, but I don’t think I have the natural abilities needed for this. I didn’t know how wide this subfield could be applied. As mentioned, I only thought of it as the tv shows portray them, but they can also be involved in deciding if someone can or should be tried or working with children in custody cases. Like experimental psychology, I think this can be applied in a lot of aspects of life as well because of the detail orientation needed. Regardless, I think it would be best used within the law field.

Ciera

Response #2 (150 words +)

1) After researching these areas, do you find them to be career possibilities you are interested in or careers that don’t capture your interest? Why or why not?

2) What is at least one thing you learned about each of the two subspecialties that you did not previously know?

3) Describe a “real-world” application for each of the two subspecialties. How could knowledge gained through the pursuit of each subspecialty help us to understand everyday problems, dilemmas, or situations? Note: your answer does not have to be specific to psychology as a field. Think broadly; psychological principles can apply to many different fields.

After learning about the fields of experimental and forensic psychology, I find these areas to be interesting and I would consider pursuing a career in either of these fields. I am interested in experimental psychology because I like how it utilizes scientific research in combination with people and their behaviors. I’ve always been a social and I enjoy working with and helping people. I also like the feeling of completing a task. I imagine that as an experimental psychologist I would be able to create and test theories that attempt to explain human behavior. There would be a feeling of completion or closure upon publication of my research.

It is for similar reasons that I think I might enjoy work as a forensic psychologist. I like to try to understand people and why they are the way that they are. I like that I would be able to directly apply principals of psychology in the everyday work carried out by a forensic psychologist. One of the things that does concern my about the career field is that some of the cases I work on might be emotionally challenging. For example, our additional reading and resources provided a youtube interview with a forensic psychologist who works in a court room. He describes some of the roles that a forensic psychologist which included evaluating a person’s mental status when committing a crime as well as offering their professional opinion on which parent would be best fit to have custody in divorce hearings. I think I would have hard time not being upset if I had a strong opinion/recommendation and the court ruled in the opposite way.

One thing I learned about experimental psychology is the variety of settings experimental psychologists work in. I’ve always associated research and experiments with universities and labs. Experimental psychologist can also find work in non-profit organizations and government agencies.
I was surprised to learn about all the areas of forensic psychology that can be focused in. Before my research I thought that forensic psychologists worked strictly with crimes and criminals. As I mentioned all ready, forensic psychologists can also find work in a court and specialize in criminal justice, family matters and substance abuse.

I think that we use principals of experimental psychology every day without always realizing it. For example, when we meet a new person the way you interact is based on your previous experience meeting new people. Similarly, when meeting a child you would act differently than you would meeting a peer because of the results of previous interacts meeting people of different age groups.

A daily application of forensic psychology would be just understanding people, why they act the way they do and what the appropriate response to their behavior would be based on them as an individual. I think about how I discipline my children. First I have to think about what they did and then I have to think about why they did it. Then based on that information I try to make an appropriate punishment. For example, if one of my children breaks a plate and it was out of anger I would address it differently than if it accidentally fell. Then I would have to consider why they were angry and why they did not choose to respond differently. I like that there are so many factors to consider in forensic psychology. But it requires a lot of information to appropriately evaluate each individual situation.

Have a great week everyone!
Take care,
Dineen

Response #3 (150 words+)

Experimental psychology is very interesting to me; nonetheless, a long-term career in experimental psychology would not be a good fit for me, as it is focused upon research and teaching, rather than patient intervention. I would, however, be interested in working as a research assistant within this realm during graduate school, as it would serve as an excellent opportunity during which valuable experience would be acquired that would certainly benefit nearly any career path in the vast field of psychology. Something new that I learned about experimental psychology is that it is not so much its own subfield, but rather a methodological approach. An example in the real world could be a mother using experimental techniques to aid in the the development of her toddler.

As an avid fan of the Netflix series Mindhunter, I’ve developed a somewhat romanticized view of forensic psychology. However, the real life career options do not appeal to me. While it’s great that there seem to be quality career opportunities at the graduate level, the stressful and potentially disturbing nature of working on criminal cases in prisons, courtrooms, or even at crime scenes, is a major deterrent, as is the necessary emphasis on abnormal psychology. The only area is somewhat appealing to me would be working to rehabilitate youth in juvenile detention centers. Something new that I learned is that, prior to 1940, psychologists were not previously considered to be valid expert witnesses during trials, as the preference was to have medical doctors instead. This seems counterintuitive, as a psychologist would clearly have greater insights into the criminal mind than would a medical doctor– unless, of course, that doctor was a psychiatrist. A real world example of forensic psychology is the how the FBI began integrating psychological principles during the 1970’s to form the Behavioral Sciences Unit. Prior to this time, the commonly held belief was that criminals were born, not made or formed by life circumstances. It is from this new understanding that modern criminal profiling was developed. – Sommer