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Presenting Evidence of Malingering to Courts: Insights from Decision Theory
Author(s) -
Mossman Douglas,
Hart Kathleen J.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
behavioral sciences and the law
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.649
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1099-0798
pISSN - 0735-3936
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-0798(199622)14:3<271::aid-bsl240>3.0.co;2-b
Subject(s) - malingering , psychology , bayes' theorem , presentation (obstetrics) , probabilistic logic , poison control , data science , computer science , clinical psychology , applied psychology , bayesian probability , medicine , artificial intelligence , medical emergency , radiology
The past decade has witnessed a significant increase in research on measures that help detect malingered performance on psychological tests conducted in forensic contexts. After reviewing the principles and procedures that have been used to design and evaluate these measures, we propose a new approach to the presentation of their results. We show how clinicians can use currently‐available data and simple mathematical principles first discussed over two centuries ago (Bayes, 1763) to estimate the likelihood that an evaluee is feigning cognitive or emotional problems. Reanalyses of available data may permit professionals to present empirically‐grounded probabilistic evidence about malingering in a host of commonly‐encountered forensic situations.