NCJ Number
94632
Date Published
1983
Length
234 pages
Annotation
Designed to enhance police efficiency and human relations skills, this book explores normal psychological reactions to specific settings and situations as well as reactions by psychologically disturbed persons. Topics covered include memory, personality assessment, aggression and stress.
Abstract
A research project on the effectiveness of daily police operational briefings is described to demonstrate the capacities and limitations of the senses and memory. It emphasizes that memory is a selective process and that expectations influence perceptions of events. The next chapter focuses on witness memory and its proneness to error. An analysis of how persons sum up or assess people also discusses when use of such assessments can result in errors. The book examines social processes that psychologists have shown to have an important influence on individual action, describing research into social facilitation, conformity, and deviance. Suggestions for dealing with the psychologically disturbed relate to schizophrenia, psychotic persons, suicide attempts, and suicide threats. Research on the etiology of violence is reviewed, as are immediate factors governing eruption of violence, such as alcohol and availability of weapons. Symptoms of stress in police officers and management techniques are outlined. The final chapters apply psychological concepts to the manager's role, discussing ways to improve communications, leadership, motivation, and performance evaluation skills. Charts, diagrams, over 250 references, and an index are supplied.