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Forensic psychology
Forensic psychology

Start this free course now. Just create an account and sign in. Enrol and complete the course for a free statement of participation or digital badge if available.

Introduction and guidance

Welcome to this free course, Forensic psychology.

In this course you will explore how your own mind works, and discover how the limitations of the human brain can lead to major miscarriages of justice. You will use videos of real witnesses and go behind the scenes of a police investigation to explore the psychology of eyewitness testimony.

The course lasts eight weeks, with approximately three hours of study each week. You can work through the course at your own pace, so if you have more time one week there is no problem with pushing on to complete another week’s study.

You will be able to test your understanding of the course through the weekly interactive quizzes, of which Weeks 4 and 8 will provide you with an opportunity to earn a badge to demonstrate your new skills. You can read more on how to study the course and about badges in the next sections.

After completing this course, you will be able to:

  • understand the psychology of eyewitness technology
  • recognise an improvement in investigative skills
  • understand human cognition and the mistakes brains can make
  • discuss concepts of criminal investigation
  • consider the relationship between limitations of the human brain and miscarriages of justice.

Moving around the course

In the ‘Summary’ at the end of each week, you can find a link to the next week. If at any time you want to return to the start of the course, click on ‘Course content’. From here you can navigate to any part of the course. Alternatively, use the week links at the top of every page of the course.

It’s also good practice, if you access a link from within a course page (including links to the quizzes), to open it in a new window or tab. That way you can easily return to where you’ve come from without having to use the back button on your browser.