Chapter 7: The History of Forensic Psychology in Australia through a Legal Adjudication Narrative Lens: Cases from the Court of Criminal Jurisdiction

Although psychology is a mere neophyte when compared to other sciences such as physics, astronomy and biology, it has still managed to spawn a variety of applied sub-disciplines during its brief existence. Foremost of these is, of course, the application of psychological principles to the assessment and treatment of clinical disorders, which many commentators trace back to the work of Sigmund Freud and others in the late nineteenth century.¹ Since then, however, other applied areas have developed, including industrial-organisational psychology, sport psychology, health psychology and educational psychology.

Even though these sub-disciplines focus on applying psychological knowledge to different areas, a review of the literature indicates that they share at least two commonalities. First, the development of each sub-discipline included a significant level of debate relating to the definition and scope of the field, and second, the historical origins of these sub-disciplines have been viewed primarily through a scientific scholarship lens that focusses on key indicators such as dedicated research laboratories, peer-reviewed research and publications, academic degrees and programs and the establishment of journals and professional associations.²