How to Cross-Examine an Expert Witness in Psychology
[If you're in a hurry for the answers an expert witness in psychology should be able to give when cross-examined, you can go here.
Or you can first test yourself as a psychological witness by answering the seven questions that appear farther down this page; after that, you can go on to Page 2 for the answers to the seven questions.]
**************
Important Background Information
Below are seven questions that can be used by an attorney when preparing to cross-examine an expert witness in psychology. But first let me explain briefly the way in which these questions can help to ensure justice.
Psychology is not yet a science in the modern sense of the word. Rather, it is a vast collection of studies of various aspects of human (and animal) behavior.
Until very recently, there had been no scientific framework upon which these studies could hang. In other words, psychological studies had been conducted in a theoretical vacuum, despite -- actually, because of -- all the theorizing that characterizes the field. These countless studies simply serve to make psychology an enormous pile of disconnected findings and hunches rather than a system of interconnected approaches to an integrated understanding of behavior.
Even as we approach the Third Millennium, psychology resembles astronomy prior to the 16th Century. Those pre-Copernican astronomers certainly knew a great deal about the heavens. However, they lacked an integrated appreciation of what was going on up there above their heads.
Similarly, orthodox psychology today lacks an integrated appreciation of what is going on down here inside our heads. Nor am I the first psychologist to make this observation.
Professor Scott T. Meier, writing in the September 1987 issue of the American Psychologist had this to say: "The recent special issue of the American Psychologist on psychological science and education (October 1986) is illustrative of the current state of psychological theory in an important way: The articles seem largely unconnected."
"This lack of integration of psychological theory is the rule, not the exception. The diversity of theoretical approaches apparent in psychology journals...leads people within and outside the field to view psychology as chaotic...."
Only two months later, in the same journal, Professor Arthur Staats wrote: "It is becoming clear to a growing body of psychologists that psychology is a modern disunified science...so chaotically inconsistent that it loses its credibility to other scientists and to the public."
The questions I have prepared for adaptation to the cross-examination of the psychological expert reflect the apprehensions of these respected professors. The answers that the expert witness gives to the questions (or to other questions based upon them) will reflect the extent to which the witness understands and respects the limitations of the field as it is traditionally taught in colleges and universities.
John P. Smith, Ph.D.
Seven questions that can be used in preparing for the cross-examination of a psychologist are:
2. "Would you care to define the word stimulus?"
3. "What might the stimulus be for someone who fires a gun (writes a bad check, runs a red light, harasses a subordinate)?"
4. "Bearing in mind the legal term motive, would you explain how someone might be motivated to fire a gun (write a bad check, run a red light, harass a subordinate)?"
5. "Is there a difference between the stimulus for a behavior and the motive for that behavior?"
6. "How is the stimulus for eating similar to (or different from) the stimulus for gun-firing (bad-check-writing, red-light-running, subordinate-harassing)?"
7. "How is the motive for eating similar to (or different from) the motive for gun-firing (bad-check-writing, red-light-running, subordinate-harassing)?"
[PLEASE NOTE: Because cross-examination is dictated in large part by the direct examination preceding it, the information contained on this site must be adapted to each individual case. This adaptation normally is begun after the discovery/examination before trial. The questions listed here should be adapted in each instance not only to the direct examination but also to the accepted principles of good cross-examination.]
* * *