Aria Zong
8/28/24
Intro to Psych and Law
Laws as Human Creations
● Laws are everywhere and regulate our private lives and our public actions.
● Laws are not chiseled in stone, they evolve constantly based on needs for order and
consistency.
● Laws help resolve conflict and protect the public
○ Customs and laws are developed to handle the conflict between one person's
impulses and desires and other people's rights
○ Laws are also designed to protect the public and prevent vigilantes from taking
the law into their own hands.
Studying Laws across disciplines
● Anthropology and Law: compare laws and their mechanisms for creating and altering
laws across different societies
● Sociology and law: study a specific society and examines the macro and
micro-institutions to determine their role in developing adherence to the law
● Psychology and the law: examines thoughts and actions of individuals involved in the
legal system
Psychology and Law
● Psychologists assume that characteristics of legal actors affect how our criminal justice
system operates
● In turn, the law affects individual's characteristics and behaviors
● B = f(p,e)
Legal Psychology jobs
● Basic legal psychologists
8/28/24
Intro to Psych and Law
Laws as Human Creations
● Laws are everywhere and regulate our private lives and our public actions.
● Laws are not chiseled in stone, they evolve constantly based on needs for order and
consistency.
● Laws help resolve conflict and protect the public
○ Customs and laws are developed to handle the conflict between one person's
impulses and desires and other people's rights
○ Laws are also designed to protect the public and prevent vigilantes from taking
the law into their own hands.
Studying Laws across disciplines
● Anthropology and Law: compare laws and their mechanisms for creating and altering
laws across different societies
● Sociology and law: study a specific society and examines the macro and
micro-institutions to determine their role in developing adherence to the law
● Psychology and the law: examines thoughts and actions of individuals involved in the
legal system
Psychology and Law
● Psychologists assume that characteristics of legal actors affect how our criminal justice
system operates
● In turn, the law affects individual's characteristics and behaviors
● B = f(p,e)
Legal Psychology jobs
● Basic legal psychologists
