Crime Topic 4 = Psychology And The Courtroom

Question 1

Key research

Answer 1

Dixon et al = The role of accent and context in perceptions of guilt

Question 2

Aim - accent
Dixon’s study

Answer 2

To investigate the hypothesis that a Brummie accented suspect would receive a higher rating of guilt than a standard British accent

Question 3

Aim - race
Dixon’s study

Answer 3

To investigate if race of suspect (black or white) influences how the Brummie accent is judged

Question 4

Aim - type of crime
Dixon’s study

Answer 4

To investigate if white collar (cheque fraud) or blue collar (burglary) crime influences how the Brummie accent is judged

Question 5

Sample of Dixon’s research

Answer 5

119 students
All white
Undergrad

Question 6

Who was excluded from the sample in Dixon and why?

Answer 6

Anyone from Birmingham/grew up there
Because they would not have negative biases against the accent because they are used to it so would not be an accurate measure of how the accent is perceived

Question 7

How was the variable of race of suspect manipulated? dixon

Answer 7

The police officer either described the suspect as black or white at the start

Question 8

How was the variable of accent of the suspect manipulated? dixon

Answer 8

Student who played the suspect could code switch accent to have Brummie accent or Standard british accent, so the same actor was used in the different audiotapes

Question 9

How is personality of suspect controlled for? dixon

Answer 9

Same voice actor for suspect was used to control for differences that may affect how participants view suspect

Question 10

How was the variable of the type of crime in dixons study manipulated?

Answer 10

Police and suspect included in the script discussion of a burglary (blue collar) or cheque fraud (white collar)

Question 11

Main procedure of Dixons study

Answer 11

Depending on the condition, students were shown an audiotape of a police interview about a crime
They rated suspect on a 7 point rated scale from innocent to guilty afterward

Question 12

What was in all tapes of Dixons study?

Answer 12

The police officer (played by actor with a standard accent) interviewed suspect who plead innocence
Description of crime and race of suspect
Who pleads innocence

Question 13

Results of Dixons study

Answer 13

Brummie accent rated significantly more guilty than a standard accent
3 way interaction between accent, race and type of crime: black suspect with a Brummie accent accused of blue collar crime rated significantly most guilty

Question 14

Number of conditions in dixons study

Answer 14

8

Question 15

Experimental design of Dixon

Answer 15

Independent measures - participants only listened to one audiotape in one condition

Question 16

Additional studies

Answer 16

Penrod and Cutler - witness confidence
Sigall and Ostrove - attractiveness
Pennington and Hastie - story order
Simons and Chabris - visual inattention
Broeder

Question 17

Penrod and Cutler research type

Answer 17

Lab Experiment - highly controlled mock trial

Question 18

Penrod and Cutler experimental design

Answer 18

Independent measures - prticipants shown either videotape of a witness saying 80% vs 100% confident the defendant is who they saw thus guitlty
Did not repeat the conditions

Question 19

Penrod and Cutler procedure

Answer 19

A mock trial where participants acted as jurors
Watched a videotape for a crime of burglary based on IV of confidence the wirness states

Question 20

Penrod and Cutler Independent variable

Answer 20

Witness in videotape either says they are 80% that the defendant is the person who did the crime
Vs 100%

Question 21

Penrod and Cutler results

Answer 21

80% confident condition - 60% guilty verdicts
100% confident condition - 67% guilty verdicts
so confidence level witness reports impacts guilty verdicts

Question 22

Penrod and Cutler sample

Answer 22

Students (undergrad)

Question 23

Sigall and Ostrove sample

Answer 23

120 students

Question 24

Sigall and Ostrove independent variables the conditions were manipulated around

Answer 24

Female defendant described as attractive, unattractive or no physical description given
Crime - swindling (fraud) or robbery

Question 25

Sigall and Ostrove method

Answer 25

MOCK TRIAL: based on condition, participants read account of crime (swindling or robbery) about a female defendant (attractive or not) - strong suggestion of guilt Ask Ps to give sentence ranging from 1-15 years

Question 26

Sigall and ostrove research method and procedure

Answer 26

Lab experiment - controlled mock trial Independent measures, participants only read 1 account manipulated around attractiveness/type of crime and DID NOT REPEAT IT

Question 27

Sigall and Ostrove dependent variable

Answer 27

Sentence in years participants would give the defendant

Question 28

Results and conclusion of Sigall and Ostrove - burglary

Answer 28

Attractive defendant given mean sentence of 2.8 years significantly lower thhan unattractive - mean sentence of 5.2 years Unattractive defendants are treated more leniently based on assumption they did not use their appearance for bad

Question 29

Results of Sigall and Ostrove - swindling

Answer 29

Attractive defendant given harsher sentence than unattractive So if someone attractive uses it for ill gotten gain they are perceived as more dangerous and therefore treated harsher

Question 30

2 ways to present evidence according to Pennington and Hastie

Answer 30

Story order Witness order

Question 31

Witness order

Answer 31

Evidence presented by lawyers by most likely to persuade jurors

Question 32

Story order

Answer 32

Evidence presented by lawyers in chronological order of the crime

Question 33

How did Pennington and Hastie investigate effectiveness of the 2 methods to present evidence?

Answer 33

A mock trial where participants were presented evidence by defence/ persecution using either story/witness order = 4 conditions

Question 34

4 conditions of Pennington and Hastie

Answer 34

Defence used story order, persecution used story Defence used story order, persecution used witness order Defence used witness order, persecution used witness Defence used witness, persecution used story

Question 35

Pennington and Hastie findings - which order is most effective?

Answer 35

Story order is more effective compared to witness order - When prosecutors used story order (and defence used witness) participants were significantly more likely to be found guilty in mock trial

Question 36

Pennington and Hastie findings - if both defence and prosecution use story order

Answer 36

The effect is cancelled out No significant difference in amount the defendant was found guilty if both sides used story order compared to witness order

Question 37

Simons and Chabris - application to psychology and the courtroom

Answer 37

Because 46% of the time a 5 second sustained unexpected event wasn't seen so can discredit a witness who claims to have not seen something, that it could have occurred but they didnt see due to focus on a different task

Question 38

When did simon and chabris find the unexpected event was least likely to be seen?

Answer 38

Video is