Ian Gargan

Their stories highlight how all of our behaviours are shared, and how we are all capable of crossing the line in some way, whether with intention or by accident, premeditated or not.

As a forensic psychologist my job (the detail of which is set out in Chapter 2) is to meet with criminals and assess what they

did, what led up to what they did, the consequences of what they did and the likelihood of them doing it again.

the whole focus of the justice system is to help convicted criminals to examine their thinking, take responsibility for their actions and reintegrate into society in a more productive way.

Referred to as the ‘Big 5’, these commonly cited

In order to discover why someone did something, be it robbery, bullying, sexual abuse or any other challenging behaviour, it is necessary to study their individual psychology

human traits along the psychological spectrum are: extroversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness and neuroticism

Our personalities are the product of genetics, nature, nurture and environment, education or lack of education, and the myriad experiences that shape us over the course of our lives.

Many practitioners look to other aspects of personality that represent convergent and divergent thinking. Convergent thinking is a person’s ability to correctly answer standard questions; divergent thinking is the ability to synthesise current knowledge into creative and innovative new ideas, in other words to sort through different

possible solutions to come up with the best solution.