5 mark study summaries Flashcards
Raine
In Raines Study the aim was to investigate the differences in brain function of NGRI murderers who have pleaded not guilty to their charge due to the reason of insanity) and nonmurderers. It was a quasi-experiment with a matched participant design. There were 41 GA murders, 39 males and 2 females who had committed murder or manslaughter and pleaded The N was whether the participant was a NGRI murderer or a non-murderer. The DV was what t dysfunction was present. This was measured through a PET scan which shows which areas of the brain are most active through orange and red coloring. The procedure of rain was the participants were injected with FDG- a radioactive glucose which measures brain activity as the more activity in one area means more glucose is needed and the radioactivity means it can be tracked through a scanner. Once injected they completed continual performance tasks. During this time, 32 minutes after being injected the participants brain was scanned in a PET scanner. The Study found NGRI murderers had reduced activity in their amygdala, prefrontal cortex, parietal cortex and corpus callosum.
Hall and Player
Hall and Player investigated if the introduction of an emotional context affects finger print analysis and decision making. They used a lab experiment with 70 volunteers who were fingerprint expens from the metropolitan police. They were split into 2 groups, one group looked at a low emotional context, a fraud case and a high emotional context, a murder case. The murder case had a higher emotional context due to the severity of the crime and the expert may feel under more pressure to find a match as they want to catch the killer. They had to test the fingerprints and report whether they found a match, how much case information they used, whether the case information affected them and would they take their findings to court. The results of the study found that 52% of experts of the high emotional context felt affected by the information is the case compared to only 6% of the low emotional context felt affected. However there was no significant difference in how confident the high and low emotional context were in presenting the findings to court
Memon and Higham
Memon and Higham published a review article which reviews the effectiveness of the cognitive Interview and methodological issues in research on the cognitive interview. Research suggests the cognitive reinstatement stage when the witness mentally reconstructs the circumstances of when they saw the incident is the most effective component. Milne found that the context reinstatement gained as many facts as the whole Cognitive Interview in a mock witness study. Memon and Higham also looked at comparison interviews which could be used to see if the cognitive interview is effective. Memon and Higham concluded that the structured interviews is the best comparison because it has good rapport and no interruption which is similar to the cognitive interview but with no cognitive element. Overall they concluded more research was required to see if the cognitive interview is effective.
Dixon
Dixon investigated the effects of regional accent, race and crime type on attributions of guilt. They used a lab experiment at the University of Worchester using 119 white undergraduate psychology students both male and female with a mean age of 25. The participants listened to a 2 minute recorded conversation between a police officer and a young male suspect pleading innocence. The suspect had either a standard accent or a Brummie accent, from Birmingham. They also manipulated whether they committed a blue collar crime, armed robbery or white collar crime, cheque fraud. The final manipulation was if the transcript revealed the suspect was black or white. After listening the participants had to rate the suspect’s guilt on a 7 point rating scale from innocent to guilty. They also rated suspects on their language. They found the Brummie suspect was rated guiltier. They also found an interaction between the Brummie accent, black suspect and blue collar crime with significantly higher guilt findings for this combinations
Wilson and Kelling
Wilson and Kelling used an article published in The Atlantic Online reviewing the role of the police in neighbourhood safety. The first part of the article focuses on Safe Neighbourhoods. Many individuals are frightened by crime and disruption and so the police presence on the streets in the Safe and Clean Neighbourhoods Program reduced this fear and increased public order. They did this by ensuring that disreputable regular stuck to the rules such as alcohol being kept in a bag and no begging at the bus stop. This comes from Zimbardo’s Broken Window theory which states if a broken window is left unrepaired eventually all the windows will be broken as it signifies no-one cares which fits with Wilson and Kelling as they believed that if the small level crime is permitted then it will grow into larger scale crime. Through further study Zimbardo concluded that all areas are vulnerable to criminal invasion as a car left in both the Bronx and Palo Alto will both eventually be vandalised. Wilson and Kelling also looked at the changing role of the police. The role of the police has shifted from maintaining order to apprehending and detecting criminals. Finally Wilson and Kelling wrote about maintaining order and strategies to help this such as employing private security guards or off duty police to enforce rules on smoking and drinking.
Haney et al
Haney banks and Zimbardo used a lab experiment to study the effect of imprisonment on both prisoners and guards. They used observations, interviews and questionnaires. They used 22 males who volunteered for $15 a day. They were middle class and mentally and physically stable. The students were randomly assigned to be guards or prisoners. The guards were told to maintain a reasonable degree of order to allow effective functioning without physical punishment. The prisoners were arrested at their homes and taken to the prison given uniforms and ID numbers which they would now be known by. They were supervised 24 hours a day and given regular roll calls where they would have to line up and be counted by the guards. The experiment had to be stopped after 6 days due to the pathological reactions. The prisoners had different coping strategies such as depression and anger or being pretending to be ill or being excessively obedient. This lead to the prisoners showing pathological prisoner syndrome which is seen through depression or excessive obedience as this is due to the loss if identity. The guards became hostile and had tendency’s to have negative interactions with prisoners. The guards developed a pathology of power where they enjoyed and misused their power. This was demonstrated through increasing sanctions and demands
