effect of attractiveness on jury decision making Flashcards
when going into court what are defendants instructed to do?
present themselves in a smart and tidy fashion even if it is not how they would typically dress
dressing smart helps to reduce what?
any negative stereotypes the jury may have against the defendant based on appearance
so reduce influence of appearance
how are villains in films portrayed
as unattractive and untrustworthy
how are good guys in films portrayed?
more attractive and appear more honest and trust worthy
what do the appearances in films create?
stereotypes that can be found in jury decision making
most research in this area has investigated what?
the idea that a more attractive defendant will be treated more leniently
which supporting study did a meta analysis?
weiten and Diamond
what did weiton and diamond find?(S)
conducted a meta analysis of studies that look at attractiveness
they list a lot of studies showing that a more attractive defendant tends to be treated more leniently
also that race and gender are not as important as attractiveness
what did mazzella and feingold suggest? (W)
that the advantage of being attractive only works for a certain number of crimes such as rape and robbery
what did what did saladin et al find?(S)
showed participants 8 photos of men and asked how capable they though the men would be of committing armed robbery and murder
findings were that unattractive men more likely to have committed both crime that unattractive men ‘attractiveness effect’
more evident for serious crimes
not the same for cases where their looks could be used for material gain such as fraud, jury take into account whether they have used their appearance
who found the attractiveness effect?
saladin
what did saladin find out fraud?
that attractiveness effect was not found if jury thought they were using looks for material gain
make assumptions
what did abwender and hough find/do?(W)
conducted a study where participants read story about a murder where defendants attractiveness and race were varied
rated guilt and recommended sentencing
women less lenient to the unattractive female and men were opposite (gender)
what did abwender and houghs study show?
that it may differ between genders and not just attractiveness
