To different disciplines

Application of Psychology
to Different Disciplines
questions that involve psychological content—spatial behaviour patterns, mental
images, environmental stress, attitude change. The researchers themselves,
however, represent many disciplines including psychology. Research in
environmental psychology is oriented toward both the resolution of practical
problems and the formulation of new theory. Environmental psychologists have
worked in such topics as environmental perception, environmental cognition,
environmental attitudes, performance in learning and work environment, coping
with environmental stress, coping with crowding, privacy and territoriality,
personal space, affiliation and support in the urban environment. These have
applications to environmental planning, for example, reducing urban noise,
designing for the elderly, design strategies in dense environments, territoriality
in institutional environments, humanizing the design of high-rise housing, citizen
participation in urban planning etc.
4.4.4
Psychology, Law and Criminology
Forensic psychology is the intersection between psychology and the criminal
justice system. It involves understanding criminal law in the relevant jurisdictions,
in order to be able to interact appropriately with judges, attorneys and other legal
professionals. An important aspect of forensic psychology is the ability to testify
in court, reformulating psychological findings into the legal language of the
courtroom, providing information to legal personnel in a way that can be
understood. A forensic psychologist can be trained in clinical, social,
organisational or any other branch of psychology. Generally, a forensic
psychologist is designated as an expert in a particular jurisdiction. The number
of jurisdictions in which a forensic psychologist qualifies as an expert, increases
with experience and reputation.
Questions asked by the court of a forensic psychologist are generally not questions
regarding psychology but are legal questions and the response must be in language
the court understands. For example, a forensic psychologist is frequently appointed
by the court to assess a defendant’s competency to stand trial. The court also
frequently appoints a forensic psychologist to assess the state of mind of the
defendant at the time of the offense. This is referred to as an evaluation of the
defendant’s sanity or insanity (which relates to criminal responsibility) at the
time of the offense. These are not primarily psychological questions but rather
legal ones. Thus, a forensic psychologist must be able to translate psychological
information into a legal framework.
Forensic psychologists provide sentencing recommendations, treatment
recommendations, and any other information the judge requests, such as
information regarding mitigating factors, assessment of future risk, and evaluation
of witness credibility. Forensic psychology also involves training and evaluating
police or other law enforcement personnel, providing law enforcement with
criminal profiles and in other ways working with police departments. Forensic
psychologists work both with the Public Defender, the States Attorney, and private
attorneys. Forensic psychologists may also help with jury selection.
(http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_science).
A whole range of topics like criminal profiling to psychopathic personality to
eye witness testimony, to mental and emotional states of victims/witnesses, to
decision making process by the jury members and judges etc., are studied by

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