ID:
510673
Duration (hours):
36
CFU:
6
SSD:
PSICOLOGIA GENERALE
Year:
2025
Overview
Date/time interval
Primo Semestre (22/09/2025 - 09/01/2026)
Syllabus
Course Objectives
In this edition, the course focuses monographically on reasoning (and partly on decision-making) in the judicial setting (rather than in the clinical setting). By the end of the course, students should: 1) know the basics of the logic of certainty and of the logic of uncertainty; 2) know the main deviations of human reasoning from logic; 3) know causal Bayesian networks, and how they can describe and support human reasoning in two professional domains (judicial and clinical); 4) know how to construct simple Bayesian networks describing evidentiary reasoning in criminal justice
Course Prerequisites
The course requires the study and use of logical and mathematical concepts, albeit at an elementary level, and their application through software to the analysis of cases. It is not suitable for students who do not appreciate mathematical approaches to the discipline.
Teaching Methods
The course is equivalent to 6 ects, for a total of 150 hours of work for the average student. Thirty-six of these will be carried out in the classroom, the remainder must be devoted to individual study. Classroom hours are equally distributed between lectures and lecturer-led exercises, either on blackboard or software. For this reason, each student must bring his or her own laptop to class, where individual and group exercises will be conducted.
Assessment Methods
In the last part of the course, students divided into groups will have to solve a case by constructing the Bayesian network that describes it. On the day of the exam, each group must explain to each other group and to the prof their solution of the case. The individual grade (from "insufficient"; to "30 cum laude") will be assigned to each student based on his or her performance in discussing the case, and the quality of the Bayesian network constructed by the group. Any non-attending students (mode not recommended) will be required to take a computer-based exam, with closed and open questions.
Texts
Cherubini P (2024). Guida al ragionamento probatorio con le reti bayesiane. Giuffré Francis Lefebvre. Initial sections (p. 11-29 + software installation instructions) of the GeNIe user manual (BayesFusionLLC.). The software and its manual can be downloaded free of charge for educational purposes.
Contents
1) different types of reasoning: deduction, abduction, associative induction; forward and backward reasoning; 2) the logic of certainty: propositional calculus 3) the logic of uncertainty: Bayesian probability calculus, and how it derives from the logic of certainty; 4) measuring the strength of evidence (judicial domain) or of symptoms (clinical domain) 5) estimating subjective probabilities 6) constructing Bayesian networks of entire evidential frameworks. Course content will be approached with consideration of the ethical-deontological principles underlying consultative work in the investigative and judicial fields.
Course Language
Italian
More information
Since 2015, ENFSI (European Network of Forensic Science Institute; in other words, scientific investigation departments throughout Europe) has officially adopted the concepts described in the course as the "standard of evidence" in criminal justice. In Italy, many have heard of them, few know them, and very few know how to use them, in practice. This course is a rare opportunity to acquire those instruments for those students with an interest in forensic science and judicial psychology.
Degrees
Degrees (2)
PSYCHOLOGY
Master’s Degree
2 years
PSYCHOLOGY
Master’s Degree
2 years
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