LLB103 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Local Exchange Trading System, Fundamental Attribution Error, Emotional Contagion
LLB103 DISPUTE RESOLUTION LECTURE 12: DISPUTE RESOLUTION AND PSYCHOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
●Law is about people
●Psychology is the study of the human mind and human behaviour
●Therefore, there are benefits in law students and lawyers understanding some ‘psychology basics’ and
appreciating the interdisciplinary nature of any law related job.
WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY?
●Psychology is a scientific discipline that studies human behaviour and the mental processes that
underlie it.
●There are many different specialities and sub-disciplines of psychology. For example:
○Behavioural psychology: introducing a punishment on a person on the basis of preventing that
behaviour.
○Developmental psychology: the way the mind develops throughout the lifespan.
○Organisational psychology: the behaviour of people in organisations.
○Clinical psychology: mental health and mental health promotion.
○Educational psychology: mind and behaviour as they relate to the acquisition of knowledge.
○Positive psychology: focuses on what goes right with people..
PSYCHOLOGY METHODS
●Psychological studies usually employ empirical research methods, which use observation and
experience to gain knowledge.
●Empirical research in psychology is often characterised as either quantitative (the collection and
analysis of numerical data) or qualitative (the collection and analysis of data in the form of interviews,
focus groups and/or observation of behaviour).
●Law doesn’t operate in a vacuum.
●Law is an applied discipline.
●Law is a tool of social organisation, regulating people’s conduct.
●The effect of law upon people is as much a psychological issue as it is a legal one.
●Psychology can inform the development and the implementation of the law for the benefit of society.
LAW AND PSYCHOLOGY
●Legal psychology takes finding from social and cognitive psychology and applies them to the actors and
processes that make up a legal system
●Forensic psychology is focussed on the interaction between psychology and the criminal law (ie eye
witness testimony, mental incapacity, insanity etc).
●Legal Psychology + Forensic Psychology = Law and Psychology
●Psychology as a field of study is much larger than mental health issues. That particular body of
psychology is known as clinical psychology
COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
●Many of the concepts we will deal with this week are strongly associated with the field of cognitive
psychology
●Cognitive psychology is focussed on the internal working of the mind. It is the study of how people
perceive, remember, think, speak, and solve problems (Psychology: Making Connections by Gregory
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Feist and Erika Rosenberg)
INTELLIGENCE
●No universal definition
●‘the cognitive ability to learn from experience, to reason well, to remember important information, and to
cope with the demands of daily living.’
Robert Sternberg, The triarchic mind: A new theory of human intelligence (New York: Viking, 1988).
●This model of intelligence can be contrasted with Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences
INTELLIGENCE AND SOME THOUGHTS FOR LAW STUDENTS
●You are all intelligent – you have to be, to be studying law at QUT.
●When law students begin law school, their academic identity becomes the highest ranking of their
identities.
●Imposter syndrome!!!
●Equating intelligence with good grades and being a good lawyer is really problematic
○What if you don’t do well in a law exam?
○What if you lose an important case for a client?
○What if you are unsure how the law relates to a particular issue and what a judge may decide?
○Intelligence is more than just ‘book smarts’
MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCE
●People are intelligent in many different ways.
●It doesn’t make sense to compare different intelligences and say that one is better than another.
●Instead, we should link our intelligence strengths to our particular chosen mode and area of lawyering.
●Instead of asking ‘how smart am I’ ask ‘how am I smart’.
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Document Summary
Llb103 dispute resolution lecture 12: dispute resolution and psychology. Psychology is the study of the human mind and human behaviour. Therefore, there are benefits in law students and lawyers understanding some psychology basics" and appreciating the interdisciplinary nature of any law related job. Psychology is a scientific discipline that studies human behaviour and the mental processes that underlie it. There are many different specialities and sub-disciplines of psychology. Behavioural psychology: introducing a punishment on a person on the basis of preventing that behaviour. Developmental psychology: the way the mind develops throughout the lifespan. Organisational psychology: the behaviour of people in organisations. Clinical psychology: mental health and mental health promotion. Educational psychology: mind and behaviour as they relate to the acquisition of knowledge. Positive psychology: focuses on what goes right with people Psychological studies usually employ empirical research methods, which use observation and experience to gain knowledge.
