•Psychology fosters better understanding between people.Thus social workers can understand the feelings, attitudes and behaviour of his/ her clients. Workplace psychology principles can also help employers understand how to hire for particular traits … Jonathan Kitchen/Digital Vision/Getty Images According to Ronald Riggio, Ph.D., of Claremont McKenna College, the study of psychology is important to explain basic human behavior, apply critical decision and thinking skills, improve interpersonal communication and provide a background for the business sector. Psychological science, knowledge and expertise may indeed contribute to promoting effective law enforcement behaviors and strategies. Workplace psychology principles can help employers identify the key skills, educational requirements, and work experience their employees must possess. How people’s perceptions, misperceptions, and cognitive biases can affect criminal investigations and court room outcomes. More generally, psychological researchers can impact the law in a variety of ways. Basic researchers, scientists who seek general or basic knowledge for its own sake, and applied researchers, scientists … Due to the diversity of topics within these areas, conclusive definitions that satisfy everyone in the field remain elusive. The relationship between psychology and law As Wells (2002) suggested the criminal justice system would do well to acknowledge the psychologists involved in investigating eyewitness testimony; as they can do for the justice system what the justice system cannot, namely conduct scientific experiments that isolate cause-effect relationships.

Psychology should inform the creation, implementation, and compliance (or lack thereof) with law. – Any researcher can conduct a study that challenges a prevailing theory of human behavior. There are several general roles for psychologists in the legal system, and many specific careers exist in psychology in the law (Bottoms et al., 2004). Law is about the regulation of human behavior; psychology is the study of human behavior. Psychology and law is an extremely broad topic area that includes many basic and applied research areas; applied topics in mental health, memory, and jury behavior; and evaluation of laws and legal processes. One of the most importance aspects of law enforcement may not be what many of us think it is.

While psychology’s goal is to understand behavior and law’s goal to regulate it, both fields make assumptions about what causes people to act the way they do.
• Psychology is much more egalitarian & democratic than the Law. Given the current state of affairs between law enforcement and many communities across the nation, the need for psychology and psychologists to contribute to solutions becomes increasingly more important with each passing day.

Social Psychology and the Court of Law . Professionals in this field are often given the sinister responsibilities of trying to figure out why certain types of people commit crimes; what type of person commits a crime; and how to prevent people from committing crimes. Therefore, forensic psychology is often described as the merger of law and psychology. •Psychology is important in social work to understand the relationships of the community people. •Psychology is important in counselling. Adapted from the Encyclopedia of Psychology Many psychologists research how to improve the legal system. AP-LS members and the organization itself work to advance the contributions of psychology to the understanding of law and legal institutions through basic and applied research; promote the education of psychologists in matters of law and the education of legal personnel in matters of psychology, including the appropriate use of psychologists in the legal system; and inform the psychological and legal …