BAPSY Intersection of Psychology and Legal System 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which psychological syndrome, sometimes raised as a defense, describes a pattern of behavior in abuse victims who remain in or return to abusive situations?
- Stockholm syndrome
- Battered woman syndrome (Correct answer)
- Learned helplessness disorder
- Post-traumatic relapse syndrome
Correct answer: Battered woman syndrome
Battered woman syndrome, developed by Lenore Walker, is used to explain why victims of domestic abuse may not leave and may respond with defensive violence.
Question 2: Under the Tarasoff duty, a therapist is legally required to take action when:
- A client expresses general dissatisfaction with others
- A client makes a credible threat against an identifiable third party (Correct answer)
- A client has a history of past violence only
- A client refuses to take prescribed medication
Correct answer: A client makes a credible threat against an identifiable third party
Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California established the duty to protect an identifiable potential victim when a client poses a serious and credible threat.
Question 3: Which type of validity is most critical when a psychological test is used to make legal decisions about a person's future behavior?
- Face validity
- Predictive validity (Correct answer)
- Content validity
- Incremental validity
Correct answer: Predictive validity
Predictive validity measures how well a test forecasts future outcomes, making it essential for legal uses such as risk assessment and competency evaluations.
Question 4: Which US Supreme Court ruling held that juveniles cannot be sentenced to mandatory life without parole, citing brain development research?
- Graham v. Florida
- Roper v. Simmons
- Miller v. Alabama (Correct answer)
- Montgomery v. Louisiana
Correct answer: Miller v. Alabama
Miller v. Alabama (2012) held that mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juvenile offenders violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
Question 5: In the context of expert testimony, the Daubert standard requires judges to assess whether scientific evidence is:
- Generally accepted by the relevant scientific community
- Peer-reviewed, testable, and based on known error rates (Correct answer)
- Published in a major journal
- Supported by at least two independent expert opinions
Correct answer: Peer-reviewed, testable, and based on known error rates
Under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals (1993), federal judges act as 'gatekeepers' and evaluate testability, peer review, error rates, and general acceptance.
Question 6: When a psychologist evaluates whether a person's will was overborne at the time of signing a legal document, they are assessing:
- Criminal competency
- Testamentary capacity (Correct answer)
- Civil commitment criteria
- Guardianship need
Correct answer: Testamentary capacity
Testamentary capacity refers to the legal and psychological ability to understand and execute a will, including knowing one's assets and the nature of making a will.
Question 7: Which phenomenon explains why jurors may give undue weight to confident eyewitness testimony even when it is known to be unreliable?
- Illusory correlation
- Confidence-accuracy relationship misconception (Correct answer)
- Fundamental attribution error
- Availability heuristic
Correct answer: Confidence-accuracy relationship misconception
Research shows that witness confidence is a poor predictor of accuracy, yet jurors consistently rate confident witnesses as more credible.
BAPSY Intersection of Psychology and Legal System 4
Which psychological syndrome, sometimes raised as a defense, describes a pattern of behavior in abuse victims who remain in or return to abusive situations?