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Forensic Psychology > Week 10 - Juror Decision Making > Flashcards

Week 10 - Juror Decision Making Flashcards

1
Q

Why study juror/jury decision makers?

A
  • finders of fact
  • conscience of community
  • lay people making important/complex decisions
  • controversial decisions
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2
Q

What are a couple of questionable calls with jury decisions?

A
  • Mcdonalds, hot coffee, sue for $2.9 million for spilling on themselves
  • man jumping over net, became paralysed, tried to sue for $18 million
  • OJ Simpson
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3
Q

What are some challenges we face when trying to establish the ‘goodness’ of jurors?

A
  • establishing ground truth

- when is not ‘not guilty’ the right verdict?

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4
Q

What are one way to see if jurors have reached a good verdict?
What have we found from this?

A
  • compare with judges to see if consistent
  • we’ve found that guilty verdicts are fairly consistent. When jurors voted not guilty, often the judge would have voted guilty.
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5
Q

Why would we look at the individual when evaluating jurors?

A
  1. isolating basic cognitive processes (avoid interactions between variables and individuals)
  2. logistic/methodological concerns (time, space, statistical power)
  3. individual juror verdict best predictor of jury verdict (in about 90% of cases)
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6
Q

What can post event questionnaires tell us about jury’s? (non experimental methodologies)

A
  • influence of deliberation/social variables

- memory/social desirability/self report issues

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7
Q

What is a problem to do with post event questionnaires tell us about jury’s? (non experimental methodologies)

A

People are usually unaware of what influences their decisions

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8
Q

What is one experimental methodology used to study jurors?

A

mock-juror simulations

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9
Q

Outline the methods that we may use in mock juror simulations

A

brief written, audio, video scenarios. Jurors assess testimonial credibility, defendant culpability and deliver verdict. Guilty/not guilty verdict vs. rating scale.

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10
Q

Mock juror simulations have good control, but difficulties with realism. Outline this:

A
  • nature of materials (complexity, instructions)
  • juror motivation
  • no deliberation
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11
Q

Realism in mock juror stimulations does NOT:

A

guarantee generality.

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12
Q

Do undergraduate uni students represent the general population well in jury studies?

A

Yes.

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13
Q

What is the primary basis for juror verdicts?

A

The strength of evidence.

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14
Q

When it comes to E/W evidence, jurors aren’t really that great at acknowledging:

A

memorial factors vs. procedural factors

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15
Q

Jurors like witness confidence in E/W, but:

A
  • they don’t realise feedback/social effects

- confidence “epiphanies”

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16
Q

Jurors like consistency of testimony when evaluating evidence, but

A

not aware of the nature of memory

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17
Q

Jurors like consistency of case/corroboration when evaluating evidence, but

A

are not aware of co-witness conformity, misinformation etc. Also on independence of evidence.

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18
Q

Jurors like expert testimony when evaluating evidence, but

A

Are not aware of reliability of source and assessing reliability of source. Or of competing experts, not good at evaluating.

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19
Q

What is found in juror’s evaluations of evidence?
The good?
The bad?
The ugly?

A

good: high pressure confessions perceived as less voluntary and reliable.
bad: high pressure confession still increases guilty verdicts.
The ugly: even when confession is ruled as inadmissible, even when jurors report it had no impact

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20
Q

What is encouraging when looking at jurors evaluation of evidence?

A

That juror is relying on strength of evidence for verdict preferences.

21
Q

What is less encouraging when looking at jurors evaluation of evidence?

A

Juror assessments of evidence reliability/informational value. Influence of non evidential variables.

22
Q

What are some examples of general findings when it comes to juror decision making?

A

attractiveness, SES, gender.

23
Q

What is the affect of attractiveness in jurys?

A

If the crime involved using that attractiveness, sentence is longer. If not, decrease sentence.

24
Q

defendant race interacts with what in jurors:

A

crime type/stereotype

25
Q

What are the pre trial publicity on jurors?

A
  • negative PTP leads to increased guilty verdict

- distorts information processing (conformation bias)

26
Q

What is systematic processing in relation to jurors?

A

-detailed and analytical processing, careful analysis of relevant information.

27
Q

What is heuristic processing in relation to jurors?

A

-processing guided by jurors intuitive theories, lacks the cognitive effort associated with systematic processing

28
Q

The level of processing with jurors depends on what?

A
  • motivation and ability (systematic is time consuming)
  • context (availability and perceived reliability)
  • task complexity, time restrictions etc
29
Q

How can systematic processing and heuristic processing co exist?

A
  • SP can attenuate HP (unambiguous testimony)

- HP can bias SP (if SP leads to insufficient confidence)

30
Q

Jurors should be motivated to process systematically, but, jurors ___ provide ____

A

stereotypes, influential heuristics

31
Q

Heuristic processing influences what in jury cases?

A
  • decision making

- recall for case information (inconsistent information not attended to_

32
Q

How do jurors synthesis complex evidence into a verdict? What are the 2 classes of model?

A

Formal vs. story modqels

33
Q

What are formal (mathematical) models of decision making, for jury members?

A

Juror accumulated evidence until decision criterion for verdict is reached.

34
Q

What is the story model of juror information processing?

A
  • jurors are active assessors of evidence

- attempt to make sense of the evidence

35
Q

What are the 3 phases of the story model?

A
  1. integrate evidence in a story framework
  2. learn available decision alternatives (verdicts)
  3. decision
36
Q

What is the first step of the story mode, integrate evidence in a story?

A
  • Jurors use 3 types of knowledge.
  • Info not usually in chronological order.
  • Juror must construct a story, making causal inferences.
  • personal knowledge about similar events
  • expectations about the nature of stories
37
Q

What is the second step of the story mode, learn available decision alternatives?

A
  • verdict categories (instructions from the judge)

- this can be very complex, huge list of potential options

38
Q

What is the third step of the story mode, make a decision?

A
  • consider different stories
  • match the accepted story against the verdict options
  • choose the verdict that matches the accepted story
39
Q

What is Florida’s “stand your ground” law?

A

Individual has no duty to retreat from any place where they have a lawful right to be.

40
Q

Formal models or story models, where does the evidence lie? Evidence exists for both:

A

Formal models: predicting response to evidence
Story models: effects of evidence presentation (manipulated proper verdict and organisation of evidence, more correct verdicts in story condition than issue).

41
Q

What are the three summary points in juror’s decision?

A
  1. jurors try to base decision on systematic processing and strength of evidence
  2. jurors not always great at evaluating evidence
  3. increased ambiguity -> increased heuristic processing -> increased influence of non evidential factors
42
Q

What is confirmation bias?

A

preference for information that confirms, rather than disconfirms, an already existing belief and a proneness toward belief consistent interpretations of ambiguous evidence.

43
Q

The first step in juror decision making is to:

A

construct a case story

44
Q

The case story that juror’s make:

A
  • provides framework for interpreting later information

- opens route for Heuristic processing

45
Q

What are the two confirmation bias effects?-

A

selective attention to information

  • information processing
  • attribution tendencies
46
Q

Confirmation bias is a ____ phenomenon.

A

persistent

47
Q

Is confirmation bias often conscious or subconscious?

A

subconscious (naturally occurring)

48
Q

Increase awareness of confirmation bias can:

A

reduce effects

Forensic Psychology (11 decks)

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