Dr Lynsey Gozna

BSc (Hons) (Sund/SU, Texas), MSc, PgDip, PhD (Portsmouth)
Lecturer in Forensic Psychology

I joined the Department of Psychology in March 2003 as a Lecturer in Forensic Psychology after working for QinetiQ Ltd (formerly DERA).  In addition, I have worked and conducted research in a range of forensic settings including probation and bail hostels, secure psychiatric units and prisons, in addition to working with numerous police forces in the UK and abroad. 

My doctoral research focused on individual differences in the detection of deception and how people lie.  This was solely focused on conducting laboratory research in order to establish whether there are links between personality and engaging in deceptive behaviour.  I have since moved away from solely focusing on deception and exhibited nonverbal behaviour to taking a more holistic approach to understanding the way in which people deceive (specifically suspects of crime) and credibility assessment within the context of police investigations.  This includes consideration of physical evidence, suspects accounts of their actions in the alleged offence and information from victims and witnesses.  My research has led to the direct observations of police-suspect interviews in order to develop an understanding of the strategies suspects use to talk about offending behaviour and how this can be utilised to enhance credibility assessments.  In addition to suspect strategies, wider research is considering how personality, personality disorder and Psychopathy also impact on the way in which a suspect could interact with interviewing officers.

My other interest within forensic psychology is the area of major crime and offence behaviour and decision-making.  Research in this area has concentrated on understanding how to identify risk indicators for homicide through the analysis of police case files and has included:

• Prostitute homicide
• Murder in the name of so called honour
• Arson-homicide
• Mental health related homicides
• Domestic homicide including perpetrator suicide
• Serial homicide

 

Furthermore, in the area of sexual offending, research has focused on consistency in series offences and crossover offending.  Consistency is in relation to the way in which offenders commit the offence and how they interact with the victim.  Crossover offending has considered the risk sexual offenders pose when they crossover in their victim selection either through the gender, age or relationship.  Therefore this research has considered whether a paedophile can really be called a paedophile and whether child sexual offenders will only victimise one gender (e.g. only females). 

TEACHING

BSc (Hons) PSYCHOLOGY / APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY & SOCIOLOGY
Forensic Psychology (final year options – Autumn and Spring Semesters)

Semester 1: Criminal Investigation

• Witnessing crime: memory and testimony
• Interviewing
• Deception and lying
• Arson
• Stalking and Domestic Violence
• Sexual Offending
• Homicide
• Offender profiling
• Hostage-taking and Negotiation

Semester 2: Clinical Forensic Issues

• Psychology in prisons
• Mentally Disordered Offenders
• Personality Disorder and Psychopathy
• Assessment of offenders
• Treatment of offenders
• Applying forensic psychology: research and practice

MSc FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY
M35: Aspects of the Investigative Process (Module Convenor)

• Cognitive interview
• Detection of deception
• False confessions
• Equivocal Death
• Arson

M45: Research & Professional Skills (Module Convenor)

• The MSc dissertation and conducting applied research
• Sampling, experimental design and quasi-experimental design
• Interviewing and presentation skills

RESEARCH SUPERVISION
The majority of the dissertations are conducted in conjunction with collaborating organisations within the criminal justice field. Some of the previous projects are highlighted below:

• An investigation into the nature of bullying in a prison environment
• Cultural differences in the exhibited behaviours of liars and truth tellers during a simulated customs baggage search
• Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale
• Contact and non-contact child sexual offenders
• Developing a risk assessment for children's' use of the internet
• Stereotypical beliefs regarding the detection of deception
• Exhibited deceptive behaviours in traditional and non-traditional interview environments
• The perceptions of professionals and the public to the commercial sexual exploitation of children
• The perceptions of the public to Internet based child sexual offenders
• Psychological Inventory of Drug Based Thinking Styles
• Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles
• Stalking on campus: An investigation of the beliefs and experiences of students at university
• Violence in the workplace: An examination of university lecturers
• The nature and prevalence of adolescent sexual offenders ? Restorative Justice: The factors influencing attendance at Young Offender Referral Order Panels
• An investigation of Chinese experiences of the reporting of crime
• The beliefs of police officers, prison inmates and the general public regarding exhibited deceptive behaviour
• Adolescent sex offenders
• Consistency in serial sexual offences
• Crossover sexual offending
• Therapeutic interventions for female arsonists
• Police interviewing
• Homicide (prostitutes, honour killings, mental health, homicide-suicide, arson-homicide, multiple offenders)
• Offender decision-making in serious crime
• Police requirements in difficult to detect homicides
• Gang membership in young offenders
• Kidnap
• Tattoos and identity in offending populations

 

PUBLICATIONS

Submitted / Published

Boon, J., Gozna, L. F. & Hall, S. (under review). Detecting ‘faking bad’ on the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scales.  Personality and Individual Differences.

Boon, J., Shawcross, M. & Gozna, L. F. (under review). Investigating the forensic implications of the impact of facial piercing on identification accuracy.  Psychology, Crime & Law.

Galbraith, J., Boon, J. & Gozna, L. F. (under review).  Investigating individuals’ propensities to ‘upspeak’ and their levels of self-esteem and compliance.   Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Gozna, L. F., Sully, L. & Teicher, S. (under review). Observations of suspect strategies in real life police interviews. 

Mitchell, J., Gozna, L. F., & Richards, L. (under review). Arson as a weapon of death: Reckless or Deliberate?

Moulton, A., Gozna, L. F., & Richards, L. (upcoming). Prostitute homicide: The influence of prior relationship on crime scene behaviour.  In D. Canter, M. Ioannou, & D Youngs (eds.) Street Prostitution.  Aldershot: Ashgate.

Cann, J., Friendship, C. & Gozna, L. F. (2007). Assessing crossover in a sample of sexual offenders with multiple victims.  Legal and Criminological Psychology. 12(1), 149-163.

Gozna, L. F. (2007). Tackling ecological validity: conducting observations in a police-suspect interview.  In L. Falshaw &       L. Rayment (eds.) Issues in Forensic Psychology. Leicester: British Psychological Society.

Gozna, L. F. & Sully, L. (2006).  Liar, Liar. Janes Police Review. April 14th 2006.

Gozna, L. F. (2002). Individual differences in telling lies, detecting lies and the consequences of getting caught.  Unpublished PhD thesis.  University of Portsmouth.

Gozna, L. F., Vrij, A., & Bull, R. (2001). The impact of individual differences on lying in everyday life and in a high stake situation. Personality and Individual Differences, 31, 1203-1216.

Gozna, L. F. (1999).  Lying and Deception: What makes a successful liar?  Psychology Review. 6 (2), 28-31.

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

2007 forthcoming

Teicher, S. & Gozna, L. F. (2007).  The Good, the Bad and the Subtle: Verbal behaviour, suspect typology and credibility.  Paper to be presented at the British Psychological Society Division of Forensic Psychology Annual Conference, York, UK, July 23-25.

Arnold, L. A. & Gozna, L. F. (2007). Suspect strategy use during police-suspect interviews: An observational approach.  Paper to be presented at the 3rd International Congress of Psychology and Law, Adelaide, Australia, 5-8 July. 

Gozna, L. F. (2007).  Detecting Deception: The problem with Ecological Validity.  Paper to be presented at the International Association of Law and Mental Health, Padua, Italy, 25-30 June.

Gozna, L. F. & Boon, J. (2007). The Chameleon offender: The synergising of psychology and psychiatry to meet the challenge.  Paper to be presented at the Conference of Research in Forensic Psychiatry, Regensburg, Germany, May 29-31.

2006

Gozna, L. F. & Sully, L. (2006). Exploring the verbal strategies used by suspects in police interviews: An observational study.  Paper presented at the Conference of Language, Psychology and the Law, Leicester, UK, July 10-12.

Gozna, L. F. (2006). Considerations of credibility assessment in police suspect interviews.  Paper presented at the 16th Conference of the European Association of Psychology and Law, Liverpool, UK June 28-30.

Cann, J., Friendship. C., & Gozna, L. (2006). Assessing crossover in a sample of sexual offenders with multiple victims. Paper presented at the British Psychological Society Division of Forensic Psychology Annual Conference, Preston, UK, June 20-22.

Gozna, L. F. (2006). Observations in a police suspect interview.  Paper presented at the British Psychological Society Division of Forensic Psychology Annual Conference, Preston, UK, June 20-22.

Gozna, L. F., Sully, L. & Teicher, S. (2006). Observations of suspect strategies in police interviews.  Paper presented at the American Psychology and Law Society Annual Conference, St. Petersburg, Florida, March 1-4.

Teicher, S. & Gozna, L. F. (2006). Possibilities to Improve Lie Detection Rates: Revisiting an Indirect Measure. Poster presented at the American Psychology and Law Society Annual Conference, St. Petersburg, Florida, March 1-4.

2005

Bierer, K., Gozna, L. F., & Richards, L. (2005). Violence and Homicide Prevention.  Paper presented at the 8th International Investigative Psychology Conference, London, UK, December 15-16.

Gozna, L. F. & Sully, L. (2005). “It weren’t me Guv, honest!”  An observational exploration of police interviewing and suspect strategies.  Paper presented at the 8th International Investigative Psychology Conference, London, UK, December 15-16.

Moulton, A., Gozna, L. F., & Richards, L. (2005). The homicide of sex workers: An exploration of offence behaviours and links to domestic homicide.  Paper presented at the 8th International Investigative Psychology Conference, London, UK, December 15-16.

Gillespie, S., Gozna, L. F., & Wilton, Z. (2005). Cops and Cons: The beliefs of police officers and prison inmates regarding exhibited deceptive behaviour.  Poster presented at the 15th European Conference on Psychology and Law, Vilnius, Lithuania, June 29 - July 2.

Gozna, L. F. & Moulton, A. (2005). Towards a holistic approach to lie detection: An observational study.  Paper presented at the 15th European Conference on Psychology and Law, Vilnius, Lithuania, June 29 - July 2.

Gozna, L. F. & Dhanani, K. (2005). Police decision-making when detecting deceit: An exploration of the wider investigative context.  Paper presented at the 15th European Conference on Psychology and Law, Vilnius, Lithuania, June 29 - July 2.

2004

Gozna, L. F. & Babooram, N. (2004).  Non-traditional interviews: Deception in a simulated customs baggage search.  Paper presented at the 14th European Conference of Psychology and Law, Krakow, Poland, July 7-10.

Gozna, L. F. & Forward, T. (2004). First impressions and stereotypical beliefs: An investigation of police officers’ veracity judgements. Paper presented at the 14th European Conference of Psychology and Law, Krakow, Poland, July 7-10.

Gozna, L. F., Vrij, A. & Bull, R. (2004). The professional detection of deception: Lie bias, stereotypical beliefs and individual differences.  Paper presented at the American Psychology and Law Society Annual Conference, Phoenix, Arizona. March 4-7

2001

Gozna, L. F. (2001). Cultural implications of non-lethal weapon deployment.  1st European Symposium on Non-Lethal Weapons, Pfintal, Germany, 25-26 September.

2000

Gozna, L. F. (2000). Technological convergence and deception in evolving patterns of conflict. Paper presented at  NATO conference on Military Denial and Deception.  Washington D.C. March 12-15.

1999

Gozna, L. F., Vrij, A., & Bull, R. (1999). Individual differences in the choice to deceive. Paper presented at the 9th European Conference on Psychology and Law, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, July 6-9.

1998

Gozna, L. F., Vrij, A., & Bull, R. (1998). Individual differences and lying in everyday life. In A. Czerederecka, T. Jaskiewicz-Obydzinska, & J. Wojcikiewicz (eds.), Forensic psychology and law: Traditional questions and new ideas (pp. 221-225). Krakow, Poland: Institute of forensic research publishers.

Gozna, L. F., Vrij, A., & Bull, R. (1998). Deceptive behaviour and the consequences of getting caught. Paper presented at the Eighth annual conference of the British Psychological Society, Division of Criminology and Legal Psychology, St Aidan's college, University of Durham, Durham, England, September 9-11.