science

Investigative psychology

Investigative psychology is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Investigative psychology rather than just read about it. In short: In applied psychology, investigative psychology attempts to describe the actions of offenders and develop an understanding of crime. This understanding can then help solve crimes and contribute to prosecution and defense procedures.

Key takeaways

Investigative psychology belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Investigative psychology to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Investigative psychology from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

In applied psychology, investigative psychology attempts to describe the actions of offenders and develop an understanding of crime. This understanding can then help solve crimes and contribute to prosecution and defense procedures. It brings together issues in the retrieval of investigative information, the drawing of inferences about that information and the ways in which police decision making can be supported through various systems derived from scientific research. It should not be confused with profiling which grew out of the experience of police officers offering opinions to their colleagues about the possible characteristics of unknown offenders.

Overview Investigative Psychology grows directly out of empirical research and logical inference to cover the full range of investigative activities not only the preparation of 'profiles'. 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". This field provides a system for the integration of many aspects of psychology into all areas of police investigations and forms of crime. Investigative Psychology stresses that the results of scientific psychology can contribute to many aspects of civilian and criminal investigation, including the full range of crimes from burglary to terrorism, not just those extreme crimes of violence that have an obvious psychopathic component.

Research The contribution to investigations draws on the extent to which an offender displays various tested characteristics. as well as procedures for enhancing the processes by which interviews are carried out or information is put before the courts. One aim of investigative psychology research is determining behaviourally important and empirically supported information regarding the consistency and variability of the behaviour of many different types of offenders, although to date most studies have been of violent crimes there is a growing body of research on burglary and arson. It is also important to establish valid and reliable methods of distinguishing between offenders and between offences.

Already the use of statistical analysis techniques such as Multi dimensional scaling in offender profiling has provided support for a theoretical distinction between homicide offenders as either instrumental (43% of offenders) or expressive (31% of offenders) in their use of aggression. The most recent advances have seen the development of a Narrative Action System Model for differentiating criminals' styles of offending, allowing empirically based 'modus operandi' to be identified within a broad range of offence types from sexual assault and serial murder to stalking, burglary and robbery. This method of analysis has also expanded upon the original theoretical distinction by identifying sub-themes of aggressive action which can be used to further discriminate amongst offenders (Santilla, Hakkanen, Canter & Elfgren, 2003). These behavioural themes have also been linked to background characteristics and post-offence behaviour, demonstrating their usefulness to the investigation of serial murder cases. The development and application of these techniques to serial offenders is likely to facilitate an increase in the validity of offender profiling of serial murderers.

See also Forensic psychology Offender profiling FBI method of profiling

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Investigative psychology

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Investigative psychology claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Investigative psychology before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Investigative psychology ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Investigative psychology

In research: Investigative psychology appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Investigative psychology in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Investigative psychology is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Criminal investigation, Criminology, Forensic psychology, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Investigative psychology outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Investigative psychology in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Investigative psychology means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Investigative psychology out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Investigative psychology in simple terms?

Why does Investigative psychology matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Investigative psychology?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Investigative psychology.