What Is Forensic Psychology?
Always wondered how the mind works? How criminals get those deranged ideas when they commit those horrendous murders or crimes? “Forensic psychologists are professionals that often play a role in punishing and preventing crimes by applying psychological knowledge to legal matters, both in the criminal and civil areas” (Karen Franklin). In layman terms, forensic psychologists apply principles of psychology to criminal justice. When seeking a career in this field you must choose carefully on which college or university you want to get into, that is why you should go to Penn State University. A little history about forensic psychology is that, “It was first introduced in the mid 1900’s, ever
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since Cain killed his brother Abel, which was the first recorded murder” (Bartol and Bartol), many people have been intrigued and fascinated by crime. It has become part of our society so quickly and greatly respected by many that there is now television shows and movies like Criminal Minds, the Hannibal Lecter series, Kiss the Girl, The Profiler, and so much more.
What some people don’t know is that they are many sub divisions of Criminology (victimology, criminal psychology, sociology, etc.) that sometimes become intertwined with each other in some cases.
Most people confuse forensic psychology with criminal psychology, but in reality they are two different things with many similar qualities. In comparison, Criminal psychology is when professionals study the behavior and thoughts of just the criminal or suspect and maybe those closest, related, or come in contact with him/her to justify whether he/she was mentally unstable or in the right state mind when committing the crime (1 Cherry). As mentioned before, unlike but similar, the tasks and responsibilities of a forensic psychologists is look at the crime scene, the Crime Scene investigators or C.S.I are investigating. They also look at the evidence collected or present at the crime scene, plus, forensic psychologists give their expert opinion on what type of person committed the crime. Basically, forensic psychologists apply their principles of psychology to criminal justice in order to determine the hows and whys of the criminal of the criminal mind; why do people commit the crimes, how to prevent the crime, and what type of killer committed the crime, and what type of people killer …show more content…
committed the crime. These subjects way to aid in the capturing and conviction process of a criminal.
Since you are searching in this field you must choose the correct college or university, maybe even online courses to better help you when becoming a professional in this field. Which is why Penn State University is the way to go. Penn State offers the correct classes for this profession. It is wise that you take psychology, but it is not really necessary to take a large amount of it like most future forensic psychologists do. Science and Math skills will be beneficial for forensic psychologists no matter the specialization. Other classes needed will be Social Sciences and Coursework, these will be extremely helpful and give you use to a variety of skills to help further your career in forensic psychology (1 Gale).
The working conditions depends on a psychologist's specialty area and individual workplace are the major determinants of the working conditions. A forensic psychologists will most likely spend his or her time in courthouses, jails, police stations, and criminal detention centers. (1 about.edu). In this field you get paid a very good decent amount. Just about $103,000 with experience and a doctorates degree, but if you are working in a private practice you get just a little above $200,000. Now that’s a lot of money! The good thing about this field is that it will always be needed to help solve criminal cases or testify as an expert witness in court.
To study and get your degree in Forensic Psychology, you should go to Penn State University. It was founded in 1855, the university has stated a threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service, It is located in Pennsylvania, from one side of Pennsylvania to the other. This school also offers online courses all over the world! This university was accredited for one of the 1st major universities to provide online education.
Penn State University gives a variety of degrees and certificates. Penn State features over 160 baccalaureate majors taught by expert officials that are recognized both nationally and internationally for their achievements in teaching and research. Baccalaureate majors consist of four years of college and whichever field you plan to study. Whether its Medical, Business, or even Criminal Justice. In addition this university also offers a number of associate degrees, which is studying in college for two years.
Penn State is rather a difficult university to get into. About 55% of student applicants actually get to be apart of this school. More women are most likely are accepted in this university than men do. Maybe women are smarter than men? The world may never know. Though this school is hard to get into, it is also pretty pricey, but they do offer many student loans, accept variety of scholarships, including internal Penn State scholarships, financial aid, and so much more (psu.edu).
At Penn State there are many programs, clubs and activities you can attend to. Some days throughout the week of school, at the center of the university community life, Unions and Student Activities (USA) complements the academic experience by offering students opportunities in leadership, citizenship, social responsibility, volunteerism, and student employment. This program, USA, provides a variety of cultural, educational, social, and recreational programs. USA consists of the following units: Art Galleries, Commonwealth Student Activities, Finance office (ASA), Fraternity and Sorority Life, Event management, and Student Activities.
Some of the many activities students do to take a break from their everyday school lives at the university id participate in pizza parties, movie nights, creative crafts, art galleries, even late night food specials. They also have many clubs like the fitness club, law enforcement club, swing dance club, medical club, etc..
There are a variety of organizations there at Penn State. It is up to you to decide which one you want to attend to and which one you’ll have fun and enjoy doing. Maybe a group of you and your friends should sign up and participate in these activities. All you need is a school ID and you are ready to go!
Many people perceive forensic psychologist as just sitting in a desk, profiling, and looking at criminal investigations, all of it just pure paperwork.
In actual reality they do so much more than that. Here are some key points on what the tasks and responsibilities of a forensic psychologist; train and mentor psychological assistants or trainee forensic psychologists, act as an expert witness during criminal trials, influence on a criminal sentencing, working with the victims of the crime and the general public in relation to their fear around crime, and take cases given to them. (about.edu) Some forensic psychologists will most likely find employment in police stations, court houses, and law firms. Other places like prisons, jails, and juvenile detention centers also hire forensic psychologists. Even the Federal Bureau Of Investigations or F.B.I will accept forensic psychologists. You are probably thinking why is this field needed? Doesn't the police officers, and C.S.I put the ‘bad guys’ away? Well sometimes having a forensic psychologists can be a very important piece of the puzzle when solving a criminal case. It gives that extra push. Professionals in this field help narrow the suspect list, or even help know what the killers motives were. They also help prevent crime. For
instance, they are called upon to participate in the rehabilitation of criminals to make sure they become law abiding citizens. Some even give presentations and seminars to help new recruits who want to be a forensic psychologists or even just information on being a better professional.
To become a forensic psychologists you should know the history behind it. One of the dozens of people who are important happen to be Hugo Munsterberg. He is the ‘pioneer of applied psychology, including industrial-organizational, Clinical and Forensic Psychology” (about.edu).
Wilhelm Wundt is known for the establishment of the first Psychological lab. “The creation of a psychology lab established psychology in Leipzig, Germany as a separate field of study with its own methods and questions’ (about.edu)
G Stanley Hall became the first president of the American Psychological Association or A.P.A. He also founded the first American psychology laboratory at John Hopkins by becoming the first american to earn a Ph.D in psychology. Hall’s primary interests were in evolutionary psychology and child development. He was heavily influenced by Ernst haeckel’s recapitulation theory, which resembles stages of development of the organisms evolution: a theory that is rejected by most evolutionary scientists.
Learning the history about a profession you would like to do is very important. Everything’s history lets you know what it was and what it has become since then.
What are the pros to becoming a forensic psychologists? In this profession, it generally involves helping someone. Always trying to catch the ‘bad guy.’ Having a good reputation and a lot of experience in this field will lead to more opportunities. You will be well known by many, receive a lot of respect, get a lot of job opportunities, plus you gain self-satisfaction by helping your patients get better on trying to improve their lives, you might even have saved their lives by saving them from themselves.
Forensic Psychologists get paid really good money, the highest is $103,000 when working for an organization and having a doctoral degree. If professionals that are well-known private practice consultants with a doctoral, can earn salaries of $200,00 or more. So pretty much you get paid the ‘big bucks’ when working in this profession. This career is also thrilling, exciting, and also be able to travel a lot. You get to go to places you have never gone before, see new things. You learn how to understand things from different perspectives. (answers.yahoo)
What are the downsides of becoming a forensic psychologists? To become a forensic psychologists you need to get a doctoral degree, which is the highest degree you can get. It is also the entry level for this profession. You must have experience, reputation, and education to do part-time work. If you have a masters degree you get the title of “associate” or “assistant’ forensic psychologists. You spend a lot of money getting an education and training (might have to pay back a lot of student loans) and even then you might not even get paid much for the mean time.
In this profession you might be emotionally burned out. You’ll feel angry, exhausted, and will take it out on your patients accidently. You must take special steps to relax and not be stressed out. You could lose your patients and be known as a bad forensic psychologists.
Safety can sometimes be an issue depending on where you work at like jails or at community mental health centers, maybe even other places. You could be disrespected, sexually assaulted, raped get in a physical fight, and possibly could get hurt.
In certain cases you might even have to take sides that you might not agree with in court, You could work with one side or the other to help seat favorable juries. (answers.yahoo)
When seeking a career as a Forensic Psychologists, a person should look at aspects such as one’s responsibilities, necessary skills, work conditions, salary, and its prospects, but even more importantly is to prepare oneself properly by attending an institution of higher learning that will offer the best training in forensic psychology. There may be positive and negative aspects in this career choice, but the positive aspects outweigh the bad. It will take long to actually start working in this profession, but it will all be worth it in the end. Going to Penn State University will help you get closer to being a forensic psychologist and achieving your goals. So get started on working on your future!
since Cain killed his brother Abel, which was the first recorded murder” (Bartol and Bartol), many people have been intrigued and fascinated by crime. It has become part of our society so quickly and greatly respected by many that there is now television shows and movies like Criminal Minds, the Hannibal Lecter series, Kiss the Girl, The Profiler, and so much more.
What some people don’t know is that they are many sub divisions of Criminology (victimology, criminal psychology, sociology, etc.) that sometimes become intertwined with each other in some cases.
Most people confuse forensic psychology with criminal psychology, but in reality they are two different things with many similar qualities. In comparison, Criminal psychology is when professionals study the behavior and thoughts of just the criminal or suspect and maybe those closest, related, or come in contact with him/her to justify whether he/she was mentally unstable or in the right state mind when committing the crime (1 Cherry). As mentioned before, unlike but similar, the tasks and responsibilities of a forensic psychologists is look at the crime scene, the Crime Scene investigators or C.S.I are investigating. They also look at the evidence collected or present at the crime scene, plus, forensic psychologists give their expert opinion on what type of person committed the crime. Basically, forensic psychologists apply their principles of psychology to criminal justice in order to determine the hows and whys of the criminal of the criminal mind; why do people commit the crimes, how to prevent the crime, and what type of killer committed the crime, and what type of people killer …show more content…
committed the crime. These subjects way to aid in the capturing and conviction process of a criminal.
Since you are searching in this field you must choose the correct college or university, maybe even online courses to better help you when becoming a professional in this field. Which is why Penn State University is the way to go. Penn State offers the correct classes for this profession. It is wise that you take psychology, but it is not really necessary to take a large amount of it like most future forensic psychologists do. Science and Math skills will be beneficial for forensic psychologists no matter the specialization. Other classes needed will be Social Sciences and Coursework, these will be extremely helpful and give you use to a variety of skills to help further your career in forensic psychology (1 Gale).
The working conditions depends on a psychologist's specialty area and individual workplace are the major determinants of the working conditions. A forensic psychologists will most likely spend his or her time in courthouses, jails, police stations, and criminal detention centers. (1 about.edu). In this field you get paid a very good decent amount. Just about $103,000 with experience and a doctorates degree, but if you are working in a private practice you get just a little above $200,000. Now that’s a lot of money! The good thing about this field is that it will always be needed to help solve criminal cases or testify as an expert witness in court.
To study and get your degree in Forensic Psychology, you should go to Penn State University. It was founded in 1855, the university has stated a threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service, It is located in Pennsylvania, from one side of Pennsylvania to the other. This school also offers online courses all over the world! This university was accredited for one of the 1st major universities to provide online education.
Penn State University gives a variety of degrees and certificates. Penn State features over 160 baccalaureate majors taught by expert officials that are recognized both nationally and internationally for their achievements in teaching and research. Baccalaureate majors consist of four years of college and whichever field you plan to study. Whether its Medical, Business, or even Criminal Justice. In addition this university also offers a number of associate degrees, which is studying in college for two years.
Penn State is rather a difficult university to get into. About 55% of student applicants actually get to be apart of this school. More women are most likely are accepted in this university than men do. Maybe women are smarter than men? The world may never know. Though this school is hard to get into, it is also pretty pricey, but they do offer many student loans, accept variety of scholarships, including internal Penn State scholarships, financial aid, and so much more (psu.edu).
At Penn State there are many programs, clubs and activities you can attend to. Some days throughout the week of school, at the center of the university community life, Unions and Student Activities (USA) complements the academic experience by offering students opportunities in leadership, citizenship, social responsibility, volunteerism, and student employment. This program, USA, provides a variety of cultural, educational, social, and recreational programs. USA consists of the following units: Art Galleries, Commonwealth Student Activities, Finance office (ASA), Fraternity and Sorority Life, Event management, and Student Activities.
Some of the many activities students do to take a break from their everyday school lives at the university id participate in pizza parties, movie nights, creative crafts, art galleries, even late night food specials. They also have many clubs like the fitness club, law enforcement club, swing dance club, medical club, etc..
There are a variety of organizations there at Penn State. It is up to you to decide which one you want to attend to and which one you’ll have fun and enjoy doing. Maybe a group of you and your friends should sign up and participate in these activities. All you need is a school ID and you are ready to go!
Many people perceive forensic psychologist as just sitting in a desk, profiling, and looking at criminal investigations, all of it just pure paperwork.
In actual reality they do so much more than that. Here are some key points on what the tasks and responsibilities of a forensic psychologist; train and mentor psychological assistants or trainee forensic psychologists, act as an expert witness during criminal trials, influence on a criminal sentencing, working with the victims of the crime and the general public in relation to their fear around crime, and take cases given to them. (about.edu) Some forensic psychologists will most likely find employment in police stations, court houses, and law firms. Other places like prisons, jails, and juvenile detention centers also hire forensic psychologists. Even the Federal Bureau Of Investigations or F.B.I will accept forensic psychologists. You are probably thinking why is this field needed? Doesn't the police officers, and C.S.I put the ‘bad guys’ away? Well sometimes having a forensic psychologists can be a very important piece of the puzzle when solving a criminal case. It gives that extra push. Professionals in this field help narrow the suspect list, or even help know what the killers motives were. They also help prevent crime. For
instance, they are called upon to participate in the rehabilitation of criminals to make sure they become law abiding citizens. Some even give presentations and seminars to help new recruits who want to be a forensic psychologists or even just information on being a better professional.
To become a forensic psychologists you should know the history behind it. One of the dozens of people who are important happen to be Hugo Munsterberg. He is the ‘pioneer of applied psychology, including industrial-organizational, Clinical and Forensic Psychology” (about.edu).
Wilhelm Wundt is known for the establishment of the first Psychological lab. “The creation of a psychology lab established psychology in Leipzig, Germany as a separate field of study with its own methods and questions’ (about.edu)
G Stanley Hall became the first president of the American Psychological Association or A.P.A. He also founded the first American psychology laboratory at John Hopkins by becoming the first american to earn a Ph.D in psychology. Hall’s primary interests were in evolutionary psychology and child development. He was heavily influenced by Ernst haeckel’s recapitulation theory, which resembles stages of development of the organisms evolution: a theory that is rejected by most evolutionary scientists.
Learning the history about a profession you would like to do is very important. Everything’s history lets you know what it was and what it has become since then.
What are the pros to becoming a forensic psychologists? In this profession, it generally involves helping someone. Always trying to catch the ‘bad guy.’ Having a good reputation and a lot of experience in this field will lead to more opportunities. You will be well known by many, receive a lot of respect, get a lot of job opportunities, plus you gain self-satisfaction by helping your patients get better on trying to improve their lives, you might even have saved their lives by saving them from themselves.
Forensic Psychologists get paid really good money, the highest is $103,000 when working for an organization and having a doctoral degree. If professionals that are well-known private practice consultants with a doctoral, can earn salaries of $200,00 or more. So pretty much you get paid the ‘big bucks’ when working in this profession. This career is also thrilling, exciting, and also be able to travel a lot. You get to go to places you have never gone before, see new things. You learn how to understand things from different perspectives. (answers.yahoo)
What are the downsides of becoming a forensic psychologists? To become a forensic psychologists you need to get a doctoral degree, which is the highest degree you can get. It is also the entry level for this profession. You must have experience, reputation, and education to do part-time work. If you have a masters degree you get the title of “associate” or “assistant’ forensic psychologists. You spend a lot of money getting an education and training (might have to pay back a lot of student loans) and even then you might not even get paid much for the mean time.
In this profession you might be emotionally burned out. You’ll feel angry, exhausted, and will take it out on your patients accidently. You must take special steps to relax and not be stressed out. You could lose your patients and be known as a bad forensic psychologists.
Safety can sometimes be an issue depending on where you work at like jails or at community mental health centers, maybe even other places. You could be disrespected, sexually assaulted, raped get in a physical fight, and possibly could get hurt.
In certain cases you might even have to take sides that you might not agree with in court, You could work with one side or the other to help seat favorable juries. (answers.yahoo)
When seeking a career as a Forensic Psychologists, a person should look at aspects such as one’s responsibilities, necessary skills, work conditions, salary, and its prospects, but even more importantly is to prepare oneself properly by attending an institution of higher learning that will offer the best training in forensic psychology. There may be positive and negative aspects in this career choice, but the positive aspects outweigh the bad. It will take long to actually start working in this profession, but it will all be worth it in the end. Going to Penn State University will help you get closer to being a forensic psychologist and achieving your goals. So get started on working on your future!