28.05.2019 - Christopher King

Wer: Christopher King

Wann: 28.05.2019 18:30 Uhr

Wo: HS 02.21

Christopher M. King, JD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Doctoral Faculty Member, Associate Director of Clinical Training, Director of Forensic Psychology Concentration, Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey, USA; Supervised Permit Holder, Clinical and Forensic Psychological Consulting Services and Morristown DBT, Morristown, New Jersey, USA; Licensed Attorney, Pennsylvania, USA

 The intersection of technology and psychology is a growing area of research and practice. However, subfields of psychology vary in the extent to which technological solutions are being studied and applied. This talk will focus, as a sort of case study, on a subfield that has generally lagged behind--psychology and law, and in particular, applied correctional and forensic psychology. Upon release, incarcerated populations reoffend at high rates. Fortunately, extensive research has shown that correctional rehabilitation services decreases rates of criminal recidivism. However, research has also shown that, in addition to access to care issues, many offenders are young, mandated to treatment, and drop out at relatively high rates--and those that drop out have worse outcomes than those who never began treatment in the first place. Accordingly, interesting and maintaining corrections clients in treatments that are made widely available are pressing objectives for correctional rehabilitation. As one potential solution, this talk will discuss the theoretical and practical rationale, qualitative and quantitative research, and collaborative development process that has yielded a serious video game, which incorporates both game play and self-study elements, designed to improve decision-making and knowledge of psychological skills among incarcerated offenders approaching release to the community. Future directions for this research line will be noted, and the actual game will be demonstrated. The talk will be informative for those interested in utilizing available technologies, or developing new ones, for both experimental and applied psychological research.