Law & Psychology: Differing Assumptions (1/16)
1/16/2013
Law and Psychology
Differing Assumptions
Law rational man free will hedonistic underpinning moral underpinning
The law presumes people are rational.
Hedonism - maximize pleasure, avoid pain
Some Major Thinkers
Locke
“Good and evil, reward and punishment, are the only motives to a rational creature: these are the spur and reins whereby all mankind are set on work, and guided.”
Bentham
Principle of utility, which approves of an action in o far as an action has an overall tendency to promote the greatest amount of happiness. Happiness is identified with pleasure and the absence of pain.
Determinism
Man really acts in accordance with laws he cannot truly influence
No real free will
Laws to be uncovered
Basis for much science
Major Thinkers
Marx (won’t be on exam)
Excess Value - the rich live off of the labor of the poor
Economic Determinism - your lot in life is driven by economic forces beyond your control determined by how you were born; if you were born poor, you’ll stay poor and if you were born rich, you’ll stay rich
Darwin (won’t be on exam)
Freud
Postulates an unconscious mind
Id, Ego and Superego
Unconscious Id makes irrational demands on people
Ego tries to manage conflict with these three and the outside world
Watson
Behaviorist
People are conditioned to act in a certain way regardless of their will
People can be conditioned to act in other ways
Forensic Psychology
Task is to mesh the two systems so as to not do too much damage to either
Sometime a very difficult task
Simplistic way to look at it:
Law seeks to hold people responsible
Mental health systems seek to excuse responsibility
Determinism
Trust determined by scientific method
Empirical
Measurable
Verifiable
The Legal System is Adversarial
Opposing sides present their best case
“Truth” is whatever the fact-finder decides it is - the system is not really a search for the truth
Justice is often illusory
Mainly a system to
Law and Psychology
Differing Assumptions
Law rational man free will hedonistic underpinning moral underpinning
The law presumes people are rational.
Hedonism - maximize pleasure, avoid pain
Some Major Thinkers
Locke
“Good and evil, reward and punishment, are the only motives to a rational creature: these are the spur and reins whereby all mankind are set on work, and guided.”
Bentham
Principle of utility, which approves of an action in o far as an action has an overall tendency to promote the greatest amount of happiness. Happiness is identified with pleasure and the absence of pain.
Determinism
Man really acts in accordance with laws he cannot truly influence
No real free will
Laws to be uncovered
Basis for much science
Major Thinkers
Marx (won’t be on exam)
Excess Value - the rich live off of the labor of the poor
Economic Determinism - your lot in life is driven by economic forces beyond your control determined by how you were born; if you were born poor, you’ll stay poor and if you were born rich, you’ll stay rich
Darwin (won’t be on exam)
Freud
Postulates an unconscious mind
Id, Ego and Superego
Unconscious Id makes irrational demands on people
Ego tries to manage conflict with these three and the outside world
Watson
Behaviorist
People are conditioned to act in a certain way regardless of their will
People can be conditioned to act in other ways
Forensic Psychology
Task is to mesh the two systems so as to not do too much damage to either
Sometime a very difficult task
Simplistic way to look at it:
Law seeks to hold people responsible
Mental health systems seek to excuse responsibility
Determinism
Trust determined by scientific method
Empirical
Measurable
Verifiable
The Legal System is Adversarial
Opposing sides present their best case
“Truth” is whatever the fact-finder decides it is - the system is not really a search for the truth
Justice is often illusory
Mainly a system to