PSYCHOLOGY AND LAW

Current and former students from the University of Wyoming have a chance to get together at the 2006 American Psychology-Law Society conference. Pictured are Chrissy Adams, Jennifer Gray, Suzanne Karis, Andre Kehn, Narina Nunez, and Kami London.

The Psychology and Law Ph.D. program trains students to take basic social, developmental, and cognitive principles and apply them to issues in the legal system. Students in this program typically have interests in such topics as child/elder maltreatment, eyewitness memory, jury decision-making, police interrogations and confession, and/or forensic interviewing. Throughout their careers, students are encouraged to work independently and collaboratively with one or more faculty and with other graduate students. Students are encouraged to develop a research program in their own area of interest, and with guidance from faculty mentors, to take courses that are appropriate to one's interests.

Students work with their graduate committees to identify additional coursework needed to complete their training. Mentored by a primary advisor, each student develops a program of research and is encouraged to collaborative with other faculty and students, to present research at professional conferences, and to publish in professional journals. Where appropriate to their interests, students may be encouraged to take selected law courses from UW's College of Law.

Requirements for the Psychology and Law Ph.D.

All graduate students take the following core courses: Research Methods, Social Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Biological Psychology, and 2 Core Statistics courses.

Students are expected to participate in the 1 credit Psychology/Law pro-seminar each semester.

Students are expected to be active members of the Psychology and Law Research Lab.

Psychology and Law Core Faculty:

Scott Culhane, Social Psychology (Member of the Criminal Justice Dept. Faculty) - alibis, serial killers

Scott Freng, Social Psychology - Prejudice and stereotyping, implicit social cognition

Sean McCrea, Social Psychology - Social Cognition

Narina Nunez, Developmental Psychology- Children and the law, jury decision making

Affiliated Faculty:

Matt Gray, Clinical Psychology- Evaluation of claims of trauma-induced memory impairment, and assessment of PTSD malingering