Abstract
Psychologists are often called upon to help ascertain cognitive competency for matters with potentially significant legal implications. Cognitive competency is a psychological construct that cannot be directly observed but can be inferred from an individual’s behavior or performance on content-relevant tasks. It is estimated that nearly 20 psychological/behavioral instruments have been used in the assessment of legal competencies (Grisso, 1986). However, there is a lack of common ground between definitions of legal competency and the psychological construct of competency, and therefore much inferential and speculative interpretation on the part of both professions is required to reach an agreement. Substantial progress has been made during this decade in the development of empirical assessment tools for the determination of legal competency (Grisso, 1986), but more instruments are needed to concur with the specification and diversification of the concept of legal competency.
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© 1990 Kluwer Academic Publishers
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Wang, P.L. (1990). Assessment of Cognitive Competency. In: Tupper, D.E., Cicerone, K.D. (eds) The Neuropsychology of Everyday Life: Assessment and Basic Competencies. Foundations of Neuropsychology, vol 2. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1503-2_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1503-2_9
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