PSYC39H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 9: Voluntary Manslaughter, Malice Aforethought, Availability Heuristic
Document Summary
Ch 9- homicide, assault, ipv, and family violence. Homicide killing of a human by another human its not criminal homicide if its justified/excused. Decline in criminal homicide over the past 15yrs. ~60% were killed by someone they knew: homicidal attacks by strangers are not common extensive exposure to violence has a dysfunctional side it may immunize us form the horror of violence, availability heuristic. Heristics are cog shortcuts that we use to make quick inferences about our world. When the news continually show graphic and scary accounts of violence, ppl are likely to incorporate these details into cog shorthand & have them readily available for future reference. When they think of violence at a later time, the remember the most freq seen and horrific accounts, increasing their fear of violenct crime and exaggerating the incidence in their minds. Thus, their availability heuristic, based on media reports, also creates the impression that violence is much more common that it really is.
