Persauding a Jury Flashcards
What is witness order?
Where the best evidence is presented first and the weakest evidence presented last
What study links with effect of order testimony?
& what is the aim?
Pennington & Hastie
- investigate whether the order in which evidence is presented affects the final verdict given and the jurors confidence in their decision
Method… (P&H)
- Laboratory experiment using independent measures
IV & DV (P&H)
IV - order in which evidence was presented
DV - whether they voted guilty or not & their confidence rating
Sample…. (P&H)
- 130 students
- from North Western & Chicago uni
- paid to take part
Procedure… (P&H)
- listened to tape recordings of a court case between commonwealth of Massachusetts v Caldwell
- then reach verdict guilty or not
- rate confidence on 5 point scale
Results… (P&H)
- 78% found guilty for prosecution story & defence witness
- 31% found guilty for prosecution witness & defence story
ALSO - the greatest confidence in their verdict was expressed by those who heard the defence or prosecution in story order
What is story order?
When evidence is presented in chronological order which demonstrate the story of an event - more persuasive & believable
Conclusion (P&H)
Defence story order does not seem to be as persuasive as when up is used it the prosecution case
What is vivid testimony?
Vivid means it produces string, clear, powerful images in your mind - makes info more engaging & relevant.
What study links to persuasion techniques (vivid testimony) ?
&
What is the aim?
Bell and Loftus
- investigate whether the vividness of evidence affects its persuasiveness
Research method & design (B&L)
- 2 conditions…
Experiment using independent measures
- 2 conditions: vivid or pallid (less detailed)
Procedure… (B&L)
- presented with a civil court case involving auto mobile pedestrian accident in which the plantiff’s sole whiteness testified that the pedestrian was on the zebra crossing.
Vivid version …
Pallid version… (B&L)
- vivid - plantiff was wearing blue nike shoes, pink socks, Columbia uni t-shirt
- pallid - simply stated the plantiff had been on the crossing
Results… (B&L)
- vivid testimony was more persuasive than the pallid.
- this didn’t only affect the verdict of the case but also the level of damages rewarded
Conclusion… (B&L)
Vividness does affect the jury’s decision, if testimony is vivid it is more likely to be persuasive
What is inadmissible evidence?
What can make evidence inadmissible?
Inadmissible evidence is when the judge tells the jury to disregard evidence
- pre-trial publicity
- prior convictions
- hearsay evidence
- illegally obtained evidence
What is the backfire affect?
Where jurors place greater emphasis on evidence that has been ruled inadmissible - jurors are told to ignore the evidence but five more guilty verdicts
What study links with inadmissible evidence?
& aim
Pickel
- to look at the effect of prior convictions on the verdicts given and to look at the role of the judges instructions when they are followed by legal explanation
Sample… (Pickel)
- 236 psychology students from ball uni
- part of course
Research method and design (Pickel)
4 conditions…
- experiment using independent measures
- 4 conditions
~ control
~ inadmissible evidence with no explanation
~ inadmissible evidence with explanation - admissible
Procedure… (Pickel)
- listened to mock trial or a fictional theft and critical evidence.
- evidence was then objected to either allowed or overruled as inadmissible
- then completed question on
~ the verdict
~ estimate probability of guilt
~ 10 point scale of texting to which knowledge of prior conviction convinced them to go with guilty verdict
~ rated credibility of each witness
Results… (Pickel)
- 43% found guilty with inadmissible evidence and no explanation given
- 55% found guilty with inadmissible evidence and explanation given
Conclusion… (Pickel)
Inadmissible evidence makes it more important to the jury and they pay more attention to it
