Adult & Higher Education

Criminal profiling has captured our imagination through various films and TV shows, but the real psychology behind it is far more nuanced and fascinating. This course explores the actual psychological principles, methods and research that underpin offender profiling, moving beyond the Hollywood dramatisation to understand how it really works.

This course suits anyone with a genuine interest in forensic and investigative psychology who wants to understand the science behind profiling. It's especially relevant if you're curious about how psychological principles apply to criminal investigation, have completed our Introduction to Forensic Science or Psychology of the Criminal Mind courses, or simply want to understand the reality behind the media portrayals.

We'll explore the psychological approaches used to analyse crime scenes, understand offender characteristics and assist investigations. We will look at:

• The origins and development of criminal profiling as a psychological tool
• Different profiling approaches
• How psychological theories help us understand offender behaviour and motivation
• The link between crime scene behaviour and offender characteristics
• The role of forensic psychology in creating offender profiles
• What profiling can and can't tell us – separating fact from fiction
• The research evidence on profiling accuracy and effectiveness
• Real-world applications and how profilers actually work with investigations
• Ethical considerations in psychological profiling

None! This is a leisure course, so it's all about exploration and discussion rather than exams and essays. You don't need any background in psychology – just an interest in understanding the approaches that psychology brings to criminal investigation.

Just a pen and paper for note-taking. 

You could enrol onto one of our other Psychology or Criminology leisure courses.