1. Witness Appeal: Effect of shields and videotape on children giving evidence

2. 3.2.2 Witness Appeal The effects of physical attractiveness on the jury verdicts (Castellow et al.1990) The effect of witness confidence on jurors assessment of eyewitness evidence (Penrod & Cutler, 1987) The impact of protective shields and videotape testimony on conviction rates (Ross et al, 1994).

3. Theory What are the issues that you can think about with children giving evidence in court? What impact do you think this has on the jury’s opinion?

4. Effect of shields and videotape of children giving evidence. Part One: Hypotheses: That the modality of child testimony will have an effect on verdicts returned by mock jurors. That the modality of child testimony will have an effect on the credibility of the child witness.

5. Study: Part One Laboratory experiment (mock trial). Independent measures. 300 US college students for am introductory psychology course. (White middle class) Standardised procedures. Procedure: Watched a video tape simulation of a sexual abuse trail (father and daughter). 10 year old child giving evidence. Based on a real case but they were all actors.

6. Rank the levels of the IV: modality of child testimony Open court Shield Video recording

7. Order of Presentation Child Expert witness for the prosecution Child’s mother Defendant Expert witness for the defence Judge warned that the devices should not in any way be taken to imply that the defendant was guilty.

8. Dependent Variable % of participants who said the defendant was guilty or not guilt. Rating of credibility of the child witness and defendant on a 7 point likert scale.

9. Results: Open CourtShieldTestimony Guilty51%46%49% Conviction rates: 1.What was the effect of the modality of the child’s testimony? Females higher conviction rates compared with males Credibility 1.Creditability of the child: Females higher than males 2.Creditability of the defendant: Females lower than males

10. Part 2 What happened when the trial was stopped immediately after the child witness? Child Expert witness for the prosecution Child’s mother Defendant Expert witness for the defence Also wanted to see if the judge’s warning impacted- It didn’t

11. Conditions Random allocation 1.Open court 2.Shield with judge’s warning 3.Shield without judge’s warning 4.Video with judge’s warning 5.Video without judge’s warning

12. Results: Open CourtShieldVideo Guilty77%65%61% Conviction rates: 1.What was the effect of the modality of the child’s testimony when it was stopped immediately after their testimony? What does this mean?

13. 15 mark question…. What to do when you don’t know what to do…. Approaches /Perspectives MethodsIssuesDebates Physiological Cognitive Individual differences Developmental Social Behaviourist Psychodynamic experimental (laboratory and field); case study; self-report; observation; methodological issues such as reliability and validity. ethics; ecological validity; longitudinal and snapshot; qualitative and quantitative data. Determinism/ free will Reductionism/ Holism nature–nurture ethnocentrism; psychology as science individual and situational explanations; the usefulness of psychological research

14. Evaluation: Theory StrengthsLimitations Point: A strength of…. Comment: Why is it a strength? Evidence: Remember to include only the relevant parts of the theory here. Comment: Implication to a wider context, what can we do with this information in the real world.

15. Evaluation: Research StrengthsLimitations Point: A weakness of Comment: Why is this a weakness? Evidence: Remember to include only the relevant parts of the study here. Comment: Implication to a wider context, what can we do with this in the real world.

16. Homework 1.Checklist question: Describe research into the effect of shields and video tape on children giving evidence. (10 marks) 2.Complete a plan (dot point) for the following question: Describe how shields and videotapes of children giving evidence can impact a jury’s verdict. (10 marks) 3.Please change question in booklet. 15 marks ‘Evaluate the methodology used in witness appeal.’ 4.Read: Stages of decision making (Hastie) Make notes of the three stages in your own words. 5. Read: Majority Influence (Asch)