Introduction to Forensic Psychology

Apply psychology to crime investigation and justice systems

Explore forensic psychology where psychological science meets criminal investigation and the legal system with this online course.

You’ll examine how psychologists help solve cases and support justice from criminal profiling, psychological disorders in offenders and lie detection methods, you’ll see the ethical challenges forensic psychologists face.

Understanding the role of forensic psychologists

Examine forensic psychologists contributions to criminal profiling and understand the ethical challenges that arise when balancing scientific rigour with legal demands.

From assisting police investigations, providing expert testimony in court, assess offender risk, and contribute to rehabilitation programmes you’ll learn what this specialised field involves day-to-day.

Examining perpetrators and profiling techniques

Criminal profiling identifies offender characteristics from crime scene analysis but how reliable is it? You’ll study historical cases like the FBI’s Behavioural Analysis Unit development and explore modern approaches that integrate psychological theories with empirical data.

You’ll also examine limitations, including confirmation bias and cultural factors that affect accuracy. Practical exercises help you evaluate profiling’s real evidential value in investigations.

Exploring psychological disorders and lie detection

Certain personality disorders correlate with specific criminal patterns. You’ll learn about antisocial personality disorder, psychopathy, narcissism, and their forensic implications. Mental health defences can influence sentencing and treatment recommendations.

You’ll also explore lie detection methods from polygraphs to cognitive interviewing techniques and assess each method’s scientific validity and practical limitations in real-world settings.

This course is ideal for psychology and criminology students, and professionals exploring forensic psychology research, criminal behaviour analysis, and justice applications.

This course is ideal for psychology and criminology students, and professionals exploring forensic psychology research, criminal behaviour analysis, and justice applications.

• Identify historical and current applications of criminal profiling.
• Identify how some psychological disorders are related to crime.
• Explore the effectiveness of different lie detection methods.