Welcome!
Bounded rationality is the study of
the mental shortcuts (i.e., heuristics) that people with limited
time, knowledge, or cognitive power use to make decisions; the
structure of the environment in which people make decisions; and
the match between the two. Forensic psychology is a research
endeavour that examines aspects of human behaviour as it relates to
law and the legal system.
For research purposes, we view the legal system as a series of
consequential decisions made by offenders, victims, witnesses,
police officers, lawyers, judges, jurors, probation officers,
parole officers, and so on. The research being conducted in this
lab integrates the two areas of research by investigating
- The evidence that legal agents use simple heuristics to make
decisions,
- The heuristic mechanisms that are used to search for
information or alternatives, stop that search, and make a
decision,
- When and why heuristics work well (i.e., ecological
rationality) and
- Conditions under which simple heuristics are used to make decisions
The "Adaptive
Toolbox"
Our recent research has involved modelling how police officers predict the veracity of suicide notes and how burglars predict home occupancy with the matching heuristic. We have also been examining how students use physical cues (e.g., attractiveness) to make judgments about others' attitudes and abilities.
Our research also involves the study many policing issues. We are currently examining investigative interviewing, the administration and comprehension of police cautions, and the validity of psychologically-based investigative techniques.
