Psychology Atlas

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Branches of Psychology

Investigative Psychology

Forensic Psychology and Legal Issues

Investigative psychology describes the actions of offenders and develops an understanding of crime to support criminal investigation, prosecution and defense procedures, through the retrieval and interpretation of investigatively relevant information and support for police decision-making.

Facts
Central Question
How scientific psychology can describe the actions of offenders, support the retrieval and inference of investigative information, and inform police decision making in solving crimes. 1
Key Debate
Whether crime should be understood through investigative psychology's empirical, inference-based approach or through the more subjective approach used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which emphasizes thinking like the criminal. 1
Connections

Associated With

Eyewitness-memory reliability, tested in this study, is a core investigative-psychology concern.

Sources
1. Wikipedia: Investigative psychology
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Lead section, opening sentence
    In applied psychology, investigative psychology attempts to describe the actions of offenders and develop an understanding of crime.
  • Overview section
    The inference processes at the heart of Investigative Psychology contrast with the approach used in the Federal Bureau of Investigation which emphasises subjective processes such as "thinking like the criminal".
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