Cognitive determinants of personality in the context of medical psychological and forensic psychiatric expertise: an interdisciplinary approach

Background. This article examines the cognitive determinants of personality as key elements in medical psychological and forensic psychiatric expertise. It is noted that an interdisciplinary approach integrates psychological, psychiatric, and legal knowledge for a comprehensive assessment of the cognitive domain. The significance of perceptual, attentional, memory, thinking, imagination, and language processes is highlighted in determining an individual’s ability to understand their actions and provide reliable testimony. The importance of collaboration between psychologists, psychiatrists, and legal professionals to enhance the accuracy of expert conclusions is justified. The purpose of the article is to conduct a comprehensive investigation of the cognitive determinants of personality within the context of medical psychological and forensic psychiatric expertise, taking into account an interdisciplinary approach. Materials and methods. The methodological basis of the study is the Linear Sequential Unmasking (LSU) approach, proposed by I. Dror as an effective way to counteract contextual bias in forensic conclusions. A series of validated psycho-diagnostic techniques were employed: “Find what is missing” (assessment of perception), the Münsterberg test (attention), A.R. Luria’s “10 words” method (memory), classification of objects (thinking), the associative experiment (imagination), and a technique for assessing comprehension of instructions (language). Results. The study confirmed the effectiveness of the LSU approach in reducing the influence of emotional and contextual pressure when analyzing a clinical case of bullying. It was shown that gradual disclosure of information helps future specialists formulate more objective conclusions. At the same time, it was found that emotionally charged context significantly increases the risk of cognitive bias: the proportion of respondents who viewed the situation as traumatic increased from 62.0 ± 4.5 % to 86.0 ± 2.9 % after the addition of emotional information. Conclusions. All techniques used are justified as informative tools for assessing key cognitive processes relevant to the professional activities of experts and for identifying an individual’s mental state within the framework of forensic practice. The application of the LSU in combination with comprehensive psychodiagnostics contributes to increased objectivity, reliability, and legal validity of expert conclusions.