Exam 16: Social Psychology and the Law

You are being held for questioning in a crime that you did not commit. The interrogation is going on for quite some time: what conditions would lead to any confession you make being seen as coerced?

Joan has been seeing a therapist for several months. At one session, her therapist suggests that Joan's emotional difficulties may be due to sexual abuse as a child. Initially, Joan is unable to recall any such abuse. However, at a later session, she recalls an incident of abuse that she had suppressed for many years. Based on social-psychological research findings, Joan's claims should be __________.

If you were a prosecutor, what would you be most likely to do to convince the jury that the defendant is guilty?

You come home from work and find pieces of broken glass on the floor. You realize that your favorite vase was broken. Immediately you blame your new puppy, without even noticing that your toddler's teddy bear is lying on the floor near the broken glass. The fact that you missed seeing the teddy bear is probably due to __________.

A study found that judges who presided over jury trials disagreed with the jury's verdict about __________ of the time.

You are a social psychologist contacted by a defense attorney who is convinced that her client is innocent of assault. The prosecution's case rests heavily on eyewitness testimony. You have agreed to serve as an expert witness whose task is to educate the jury about the shortcomings of eyewitness testimony. What would you tell the court?

__________ refers to the process by which people recall information stored in memory.

After being interrogated, why would someone confess to a crime of which they are innocent?

In social psychology, __________ refer(s) to recollections of a past traumatic event that are objectively false, but that people believe really occurred.

Brewer and Wells (2011), Pezdek (2012) and Wells (2014) report one of the most common causes of an innocent person being convicted of a crime as __________.

Based on the research by Pennington and Hastie (1988) where researchers asked mock jurors to listen to a simulated murder trial and varied the order in which the prosecuting and defense attorneys presented their cases, in which of the following ways should lawyers present their case to a jury?

Julia's natural parents are Ethiopian, but white parents in California raised her. Chances are, she most easily recognizes __________.

Based on the research by Geraerts and colleagues (2007), which of the following is most likely to have corroborating evidence about their experience of childhood sexual abuse?

All things being equal, which of the following suspects is most likely to be falsely convicted based on lineup identifications?

Social psychological research has revealed a __________ relation between eyewitness confidence and accuracy.

Christian, a Caucasian man, and Sung-Yee, a Korean man, are walking to their cars when an Asian man pulls out a knife and demands their wallets. In a lineup, Christian cannot tell which man is the one who attacked him, but Sung-Yee has no problem identifying the culprit. This is an example of __________.

A social psychologist would say that the story order of presenting evidence is most effective because it __________.

Austin is a social psychologist working for the police department. As he advises department detectives about procedures for a police lineup, what is he LEAST likely to advise?

Sally was working the night shift at a convenience store. A man came in, pulled out a gun, and demanded that Sally give him all of the money in the cash register. When the police interview Sally about the crime, what would she be most likely to tell them?

In lineups, witnesses often choose the person who most resembles the image they have stored in memory. This can yield inaccurate identifications, and suggests that the __________ stage of memory is affected by the typical lineup procedure.