Ross

Question 1

what subsection is ross apart of ?

Answer 1

witness appeal

Question 2

what other studies are apart of this section?

Answer 2

castellow
penrod and cutler
ross

Question 3

what is the background behind this study?

Answer 3

increased research has suggested that children suffer from lasting trauma as a result of giving evidence and this can cause cognitive and emotional difficulties and legislation has tried to protect children from the effects of appearing in court either as victim or witness

Question 4

what are the difficulties with having children in court ?

Answer 4

distress: distressing to confront an abuser and be cross examined by a lawyer who thinks your lying
suggestibility: children are disapproved of due to the belief that children make things up
legal requirements: in America an person accused of a crime has the right to meet their accuser , this puts pressure on a child

Question 5

what has been the solution to the issue ?

Answer 5

let a child be interviewed from another room

sit behind a screen (one way glass )

Question 6

what did ross look into?

Answer 6

impact of protective shields and videotape testimony

Question 7

what was the aim of ross’s study?

Answer 7

to find out if the use of protective shields and videotape testimony increases the likelihood of a guilty verdict

Question 8

what did ross want to find if the audience experience?

Answer 8

credibility inflation- when the childs testimony is more believable , because they are not so distressed and can answer questions confidently
credibility deflation- when child testimony is seen as unreliable , because they are distant and need social support

Question 9

who were the participants?

Answer 9

300 college students taking an intro psy course , half from each sex
not told purpose of experiment

Question 10

what was the mock trial about ?

Answer 10

based on a actual course transcript
actors played the parts of the witnesses and lawyers and a professional film crew recorded the trial, the trial involved a farther accused of improperly touching a child whilst bathing and the case focused on whether the touch was innocent or sexual in nature

Question 11

what did the judge read before the case ?

Answer 11

a warning , before either the screen or the video monitored was used , clearly not to imply guilt by their use

Question 12

what were the three conditions ?

Answer 12

control- with child witness in full view
screen- child behind a 4’ by 6’ screen
video- the child gave evidence by video lik from another room

Question 13

what were the participants asked to do after the case?

Answer 13

the participants gave their verdicts and rated the credibility of the child witness on various aspects of her story

Question 14

what was the guilty and non % of the control group?

Answer 14

51% guilty

49% not guilty

Question 15

what was the guilty and non % of the shield condition?

Answer 15

46% guilty

54% not guilty

Question 16

what was the guilty and non % of the video condition ?

Answer 16

49% guilty

51% not guilty

Question 17

what did ross find from his research?

Answer 17

no significant difference across conditions

not statistically significant anyways

Question 18

what did ross do to further support his research?

Answer 18

conducted an experiment were the child was the only witness , no imput from judges e.g. no warnings
this case participants were much more likely to give a guilty verdict in control

Question 19

what was the result of this research?

Answer 19

shields and videotape testimony can be used without prejudicing the jury against them