Cutler

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  • Created by: Steff06
  • Created on: 04-05-16 11:42
What was Cutler's aim?
To investigate whether hearing about psychological research from an expert witness which casts doubt on accuracy of eyewitness testimony could would affect a juror's decision making by making them more sceptical about such testimony.
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Describe the methodology of Cutler's research
A laboratory experiment using a videotaped mock trial.
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Who were the participants in Cutler's study?
538 undergraduates who were given extra credits for their introductory psychology course.
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Describe the groups of participants and what they viewed
Participants put into groups of 2 - 8 and watched a videotaped robbery trial.
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What did they complete and what did it contain?
Independently completed a questionnaire containing the dependent measures, which were the verdict, a memory test and rating scales for how confident they were in their verdict.
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What were the 4 independent variables?
Witness identifying conditions (WIC), Witness confidence, Form of testimony, Expert opinion.
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Describe the witness identifying conditions variable.
Whether conditions were poor(Robber was disguised,brandishing a handgun,14-day delay in identification of robber by witness+line-up instructions were suggestive).Or conditions were good-No disguise,hidden gun,2-day delay, no suggestive instructions.
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Describe the witness confidence variable.
Witness testified that they were (a) 80% confident or (b) 100% confident that they had correctly identified the robber.
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Explain the form of testimony variable.
Whether expert psychologist described results of eyewitness research in a descriptive way (small, medium or large effect) or whether it was quantified using percentages of correct or incorrect identifications.
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Describe the expert opinion variable.
In half of the trials, the expert expressed his opinion on a scale from 0 (least likely to be correct) to 25 (most likely to be correct). Decisions coincided with poor or good conditions in variable 1.
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Explain the results regarding juror verdicts
When WIC were good, more guilty verdicts were given and this effect increased if expert witness had given descriptive testimony. All other variables were less significant or insignificant.
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What were results found about juror memory?
85% or more of participants correctly recalled the testimony, so memory cannot be blamed for any lack of effect on jurors' judgements. Memory for what expert said was god, 50% or more recalled 4 stages of memory (perception,encoding,storage,
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Continued answer from last question.
Retrieval). 81% recalled at least one stage. Also correctly recalled what the expert had said about weapon effects, disguises and delays in identification.
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What were the findings found about juror confidence?
It was under good WIC that jurors had more confidence in accuracy of the identification. Effect was stronger if they heard expert witness+if witness was 100% confident rather than 80% confident.
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What did the discussion state?
Expert testimony improved jurors' knowledge+made them pay more attention to WIC. Decreased reliance on witness confidence alone. With expert testimony, juror sensitivity to problems with evidence is improved.
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Card 2

Front

Describe the methodology of Cutler's research

Back

A laboratory experiment using a videotaped mock trial.

Card 3

Front

Who were the participants in Cutler's study?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

Describe the groups of participants and what they viewed

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

What did they complete and what did it contain?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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