1. ©2013 McGraw-Hill Companies
Social Psychology
David Myers
11e
©2013 McGraw-Hill Companies

2. Chapter Fifteen
Social Psychology in Court

3. How Reliable Is Eyewitness Testimony?
The Power of Persuasive Eyewitnesses
In cases with no eyewitness testimony the conviction rate is only 18 percent; with eyewitness testimony the rate skyrockets to 72 percent
Discrediting the eyewitness may reduce the number of guilty votes

4. How Reliable Is Eyewitness Testimony?
When Eyes Deceive
Strong emotions and traumas may corrupt eyewitness memories

5. How Reliable Is Eyewitness Testimony?
The Misinformation Effect
Incorporating “misinformation” into one’s memory of the event after witnessing an event and receiving misleading information about it
Retelling
Pleasing audience
Plaintiff
Defendant
Tone of voice
Choice of words

6. How Reliable Is Eyewitness Testimony?
Reducing Error
Train police interviewers
Minimize false lineup identifications
Control group
Scripted and neutral questions
Educate jurors about pitfalls of eyewitness testimony

7. What Other Factors Influence Juror Judgments?
The Defendant’s Characteristics
Physical attractiveness
Similarity to the jurors
Jurors do exhibit some tendency to treat racial outgroups less favorably

8. What Other Factors Influence Juror Judgments?
The Judge’s Instructions
Ignoring inadmissible evidence
Reactance
Motive to protect or restore one’s sense of freedom
Arises when someone threatens our freedom of action

9. What Other Factors Influence Juror Judgments?
Additional Factors
Severity of the potential sentence
Characteristics of the victim

10. What Influences the Individual Juror?
Juror Comprehension
Understanding instructions
Many people don’t understand legalese
Understanding statistical information
Blood type
DNA

11. What Influences the Individual Juror?
Juror Comprehension
Increasing jurors’ understanding
Give jurors access to transcripts instead of relying on memories
Have more effective ways to present information
Tell jurors about punishments in a simpler way

12. What Influences the Individual Juror?
Jury Selection
Scientific jury selection
“Death-Qualified” Jurors
Argued that it produces a biased jury
More prone to favor the prosecution
More concerned with crime control

13. How Do Group Influences Affect Juries?
Minority Influence
Jurors in the minority will be most persuasive when consistent, persistent, and self-confident
Group Polarization
Deliberation may make initial leanings stronger
Leniency
When the majority does not prevail, it usually shifts to acquittal

14. How Do Group Influences Affect Juries?
Are Twelve Heads Better Than One?
Groups recall information from a trial better than do their individual members
Deliberation tends to cancel out certain biases
Greater chance of diversity
Are Six Heads as Good as Twelve?
Lesser chance of diversity
There are recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions permitting smaller juries and nonunanimous juries

15. How Do Group Influences Affect Juries?
From Lab to Life: Simulated and Real Juries
Not real juries, so caution must be used in generalizing research findings to actual courtrooms