• Question: would you ever think of studying other parts of science such as forensic or criminology?

    Asked by anon-204422 to Sally, Lucy, Louise, James, David, Dan on 2 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: Sally Tilt

      Sally Tilt answered on 2 Mar 2019:

      Yep – I’m a Forensic Psychologist – so I study and practise applying psychology to the law.

      Since I became a Forensic Psychologist in the 1990s the prison population in the UK has doubled. (I don’t think it is my fault!) It is really important that we try to solve this problem – prison is expensive, crimes leave an impact on victims, and while they are in prison people are unable to look after their families and lead better lives.

      Forensic psychology involves the research of criminal behaviour and uses the application of a scientific approach to try to change this behaviour. Hopefully, the next generation of Forensic Psychologists might begin to see a reduction in the prison population and fewer offences.

    • Photo: Dan Taylor

      Dan Taylor answered on 2 Mar 2019:

      I probably wouldn’t want to study a different area of science, but I would like to widen my research interests after I get to the end of my PhD. Often I find people engaging in some of these more unusual sexual practices are accused of engaging in abusive behaviour. Whilst this is not the case, I do find a lot of the research looking at domestic violence very interesting and would consider branching out into some more forensic psychological research. Teaching on a module that covers “dark personalities” helped fuel this, alongside my interest in personality disorders (a type of mental health problem that is considered chronic and fixed in nature) in particular I’ve been interested in narcissistic personality disorder (where a person is has very high self esteem and a lack of empathy for others) and histrionic personality disorder (where a person may be provocative, flirtatious or loud with the hopes of attracting attention).

    • Photo: Lucy Maddox

      Lucy Maddox answered on 2 Mar 2019:

      Yes! I’ve got more and more interested in organisational psychology – which is how psychology relates to workplaces.

    • Photo: Louise Rodgers

      Louise Rodgers answered on 3 Mar 2019:

      I would never rule that out in the future, but I still think I have so much to do and learn in educational psychology. When I first started studying psychology I think forensic was the area I found most interesting for a while, but then I took a break to have children and got all excited by studying child development and the planets aligned for me!

    • Photo: David Chadwick

      David Chadwick answered on 4 Mar 2019:

      If I was younger, perhaps yes. But now that I am over 65 I do not think it is realistic for me to switch careers, do you?

    • Photo: James Munro

      James Munro answered on 10 Mar 2019:

      Neither forensic or criminology are something I plan to jump to. Science is a big area and I have a lot of time left (I hope!) So who knows? Right now, there is more than enough to keep me occupied 🙂

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