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Legal
Psychology Ph.D. Program |
Recent Research by
our Faculty & Students
Albrechtsen, J. S., Meissner, C. A., & Susa, K. J. (2009). Can intuition improve deception detection performance? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 1052-1055.
Two studies examined the role of processing style (intuitive vs. deliberative processing) in a deception detection task. In the first experiment, a thin slicing manipulation was used to demonstrate that intuitive processing can lead to more accurate judgments of deception when compared with traditional deliberative forms of processing. In the second experiment, participants who engaged in a secondary (concurrent) task performed more accurately in a deception detection task than participants who were asked to provide a verbal rationale for each decision and those in a control condition. Overall, the results converge to suggest that intuitive processing can significantly improve deception detection performance.
Crites, S. L., Jr., Mojica, A., Corral, G., & Taylor, J. H. (2009). An event-related potential paradigm for identifying (rare negative) attitude stimuli that people intentionally misreport. Psychophysiology. This experiment explored whether a late positive potential (LPP) of the event-related brain potential is useful for examining attitudes that people attempt to conceal. Participants identified a set of liked, neutral, and disliked people and viewed sequences consisting of either names or pictures of these people. Disliked people appeared rarely among liked people, and participants either: (1) always accurately reported their negative attitudes toward the people; (2) misreported negative attitudes as positive when they saw a picture of a disliked person; or (3) misreported negative attitudes as positive when they saw a name of a disliked person. Rare negative stimuli evoked a larger-amplitude LPP than frequent positive stimuli. Misreporting attitudes significantly reduced the amplitude difference between rare negative and frequent positive stimuli, though it remained significant.
Evans, J. R., Marcon, J. L., & Meissner, C. A. (2009). Cross-racial lineup identification: The potential benefits of context reinstatement. Psychology, Crime, & Law, 15, 19-28.
The current research examined the potential benefit of context reinstatement on the cross-race effect in lineup identification. Participants viewed a series of own- and other-race faces and subsequently attempted identification of these faces from target-present and target-absent lineups. The traditional cross-race effect was found on measures of discrimination accuracy and response bias; however, discrimination accuracy across own- and other-race faces was shown to interact with context reinstatement such that only own-race faces benefited from the provision of contextual information. This finding is discussed in light of encoding-based theories of the cross-race effect, and with regard to the theoretical and practical limitations of mitigating the phenomenon at the time of identification.
Evans, J. R., Schreiber Compo, N., & Russano, M. B. (2009). Intoxicated witnesses and suspects: Procedures and prevalence according to law enforcement. Psychology, Public Policy, & Law, 15, 194-221. Legal psychologists have generally neglected intoxicated witnesses and suspects in their research. One possible reason is the lack of objective information about the prevalence and characteristics of this witness and suspect group. Also unclear is whether standard police procedures for dealing with intoxicated individuals exist and what these may be. The current survey was conducted to help fill this void. Law enforcement officers completed a survey about their experiences with intoxicated witnesses and suspects. Their responses provide clear evidence that dealing with intoxicated witnesses and suspects is common, and that there are few standard procedures for handling such individuals. As our data strongly suggest that this group has a significant presence in law enforcement contexts, several research and policy questions are apparent. For example, if the intoxicated differ from sober witnesses and suspects, should this warrant uniquely tailored procedural recommendations? Findings from this survey are intended to spur and guide research aiming to provide useful guidelines to law enforcement on how to interact with this potentially vulnerable and under-researched group.
Chiroro, P. M., Tredoux, C. G., Radaelli, S., & Meissner, C. A. (2008). Recognising faces across continents: The effect of within-race variations on the own-race bias in face recognition. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 15, 1089-1092. People are better at recognizing faces of their own race than faces of other racial groups. This own-race bias (ORB) in face recognition manifests in some studies as a full crossover interaction between race of observer and race of face, but in others the interaction is accompanied by main effects or other complexities. We hypothesized that this may be due in part to unacknowledged within-race variation and the implicit assumption that the terms white and black describe perceptually homogeneous race categories. We therefore tested white and black South Africans on their recognition of black and white American faces and black and white South African faces. Our results showed the expected interaction, but only for South African faces. This finding supports explanations of the ORB that are premised on intergroup contact and perceptual experience and highlights the danger of assuming homogeneity of appearance within groups.
Culhane, S. E., Hosch, H. M., & Kehn, A. (2008). Alibi generation: Data from U.S. Hispanics and U.S. Non-Hispanic Whites. Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice, 6, 177-199. Previous studies have shown that mock jurors are skeptical of alibi witnesses who are related to or even have a close social relationship with a defendant. The present project tested respondents’ ability to recall their whereabouts for a particular date and time. It also provided the first 10 descriptive data on a variety of alibi topics. The majority of individuals claimed to have an alibi witness for a given time and the majority of alibi witnesses were friends or family members. Hispanic participants relied more heavily on family to serve in an alibi witness capacity whereas non-Hispanic Whites relied more heavily on friends.
Culhane, S. E., Hosch, H. M., & Heck, C. (2008). Interrogation technique endorsement by current law enforcement, future law enforcement, and laypersons. Police Quarterly, 11, 366-386. Interrogations are an integral part of police practices and investigations. Yet, little is known about the endorsement of the techniques involved with interrogations. In two collection efforts, participants completed questionnaires about interrogations and individual difference measures. Three distinct groups were compared including current law enforcement officers, criminal justice and psychology undergraduate students who intended to enter law enforcement, and students who did not intend to do so. Results suggested that current law enforcement officers favored the use of “passive” interrogation techniques, more so than the student groups. The endorsement of “aggressive” interrogation techniques was minimal for all groups.
Jackiw, L. B., Arbuthnott, K. D., Pfeifer, J. E., Marcon, J. L., & Meissner, C. A. (2008). Examining the cross-race effect in lineup identification using Caucasian and First Nations samples. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 40, 52-57.
This study examined whether findings from research on the cross-race effect (CRE) in eyewitness memory with Caucasian-Black samples can be generalised to Caucasian-First Nations pairings in a lineup identification task. This study used a novel approach to investigate the CRE, using six targets, as well as simultaneous lineups that included both target-present and target-absent arrays. This study also addressed the efficacy of the contact hypothesis as it applies to these populations. A significant CRE was discovered. Furthermore, both Caucasian and First Nations participants were more likely to choose from the lineup when attempting to recognise First Nations faces than when attempting to recognise Caucasian faces. Contact with the other race had no effect on recognition accuracy of that race. Potential implications and directions for future research are discussed.
Karpinski, A. C., & Scullin, M. H. (2009). Suggestibility under pressure: Theory of mind, executive function, and suggestibility in preschoolers. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology.
Eighty preschoolers, ages 3 to 5 years old, completed a 4-phase study in which they experienced a live event and received a pressured, suggestive interview about the event a week later. Children were also administered batteries of theory of mind and executive function tasks, as well as the Video Suggestibility Scale for Children (VSSC), which assesses children's assents to misleading questions (Yield), changes in responses when given mild negative feedback (Shift), and their final number of assents after feedback (Yield 2). The results showed that, controlling for age, children with better executive function were overall less suggestible in the pressured suggestive interview. On the VSSC, executive function was only related to Yield 2 in younger children. When interviewers provided specific negative feedback to older children about their responses, children with more developed theory of mind were less suggestible. Children with executive function deficits may be especially vulnerable to interviewer pressure.
Karpinski, A. C., Scullin, M. H., & Montgomery-Downs, H. E. (2008). Risk for sleep-disordered breathing and executive function in preschoolers. Sleep Medicine, 9, 418-424.
Background: Pediatric sleep-disordered breathing is known to negatively impact cognitive development. While a theoretical basis has been proposed for the developmental effect of pediatric sleep-disordered breathing on executive function specifically, this had not been directly examined among preschool-age children. This population may be particularly vulnerable if school-readiness is compromised. The purpose of the current study was to use a multi-dimensional approach to assessing executive function among preschool-age children at risk for sleep-disordered breathing. Methods: Thirty-nine preschool children were administered executive function tasks assessing the dimensions of inhibition, working memory, and planning as part of a larger study. A parent or guardian completed a validated questionnaire concerning the child's snoring and other behaviors indicating risk for sleep-disordered breathing. Results: After controlling for age in a series of regressions, higher parent-reported risk for sleep-disordered breathing was associated with substantially lower performance on each executive function dimension. In comparing the group means of children at high and low risk for sleep-disordered breathing, the single snoring frequency item also showed that children who snored frequently or almost always had lower performance on each executive function dimension. Conclusions: The results suggest that sleep-disordered breathing may be associated with impaired executive function in preschoolers, with its strongest impact on the inhibition dimension, further emphasizing the importance of early intervention for sleep-disordered breathing in this early age group.
Lane, S. M., & Meissner, C. A. (2008). A “middle road” approach to bridging the basic-applied divide in eyewitness identification research. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 22, 779-787.
Over a century of laboratory research has explored the mechanisms of memory using a variety of paradigms and stimuli. In addition, many researchers have taken up Neisser's challenge to examine memory under real-world conditions, most prominently including the eyewitness identification problem. Unfortunately, these 'high road' and 'low road' perspectives rarely communicate with one another, with the eyewitness field largely adopting an approach that focuses on methodological adherence to conditions that mimic real-world situations. In the current paper we advocate for a 'middle road' approach that includes a focus on theory development, an emphasis on the interaction between field and laboratory research and the implementation of convergent approaches to investigating eyewitness identification. We argue that the field would be invigorated by such an approach, with benefits accruing to our understanding of eyewitness identification and to the development of procedures that will ultimately improve eyewitness accuracy.
Louden, J. E., Skeem, J. L., Camp, J., & Christensen, E. (2008). Supervising probationers with mental disorder: How do agencies respond to violations? Criminal Justice & Behavior, 35, 832-847.
Although many probation agencies have instituted specialty mental health caseloads, little is known about the policies and practices of these caseloads. The authors surveyed supervisors of 54 specialty and 20 traditional probation agencies. The survey yielded three key findings. First, most agencies lack formal policies on officers' supervision of probationers with mental illness (PMIs). Second, relative to traditional officers, specialty officers are more involved in supervising PMIs, meeting with PMIs more often, functioning as part of a treatment team, and using problem solving strategies. Third, although both agency types use graduated sanctions, traditional officers generally respond to PMIs' noncompliance with more punitive strategies than specialty officers. Implications for developing and evaluating these caseloads are discussed.
Malpass, R. S., Tredoux, C. G. & McQuiston-Surrett, D. (2009). Public policy and sequential lineups. Legal & Criminological Psychology, 14, 1-12.
The claim that sequential lineups are superior to simultaneous lineups and that our knowledge of sequential lineups is sufficient to warrant their being required by law is reviewed for the validity of both strong and weak claims of sequential superiority, adherence to principles of research design, and the needs of public policy. We conclude, (1) there is little evidence to support the claim that sequential presentation of photos is responsible for lower levels of false identifications, (2) the evidence is weak that the aggregation of factors commonly labeled as the sequential lineup together produce lower levels of false identifications without additional offsetting effects, (3) much of the literature contains several confounds in research design and additional offsetting effects that question its overall utility, (4) recent research shows that the superiority of sequential lineups is restricted to specific ranges on other study design variables, and (5) the corpus of research on sequential lineups does not satisfy the needs of policy sufficiently to justify its mandated use as the required identification procedure throughout the criminal justice system.
Malpass, R. S., Tredoux, C. G., Schreiber Compo, N., McQuiston-Surrett, D. E., MacLin, O. H., Zimmerman, L. A., & Topp, L. D. (2008). Study space analysis for policy development. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 22, 789-801.
Transforming research findings into policy recommendations requires evaluative criteria beyond traditional academic review. Policy development involves entire literatures, and criteria for examining adequacy of the underlying research as a policy base are needed. At the level of the studies many are obvious: high quality studies, well reported and replicable, consensus on their validity, and ecological validity for application. At the research literature level the distribution of important variables in the literature is important. We discuss policy adequacy criteria and present the Study Space concept for evaluating breadth of coverage and gaps in our knowledge in policy research domains.
Marcon, J. L., Susa, K. J., & Meissner, C. A. (2009). Assessing the influence of recollection and familiarity in memory for own- and other-race faces. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 16, 99-103. The current research examined the contributions of recollection vs. familiarity in memory for own- and other-race faces. Experiment 1 used a repetition lag paradigm (Jennings & Jacoby, 1997) to demonstrate the typical cross-race effect with respect to discrimination accuracy and response bias. Participants were also more likely to commit the ‘repetition error’ by falsely recognizing repeated other-race faces. Experiment 2 used process-dissociation equations to estimate differences in recollection and familiarity. As predicted, results showed a greater reliance on recollection-based processing for own-race faces. The theoretical and practical implications of these finding are discussed.
Meissner, C. A., Sporer, S. L., & Susa, K. J. (2008). A theoretical and meta-analytic review of the relationship between verbal descriptions and identification accuracy in memory for faces. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 20, 414-455. Verbal descriptions can sometimes impair (or "overshadow") and other times facilitate subsequent attempts at perceptual identification of faces; however, understanding the relationship between these two tasks and the theoretical mechanisms that bridge this relationship has often proven difficult. Furthermore, studies that have attempted to assess the description-identification relationship have varied considerably in demonstrating significant and null results, often across a variety of paradigms and design parameters. In the present paper we review the relevant literatures and theoretical positions proposed to explain this relationship, and we present the first meta-analysis of this effect across 33 research papers and a total of 4278 participants. Our results suggest that there does appear to be a small, but significant, relationship between the description measures of accuracy, number of incorrect descriptors, and congruence with that of subsequent identification accuracy. Furthermore, certain conditions were found to strengthen the magnitude of this relationship, including the use of face recognition versus eyewitness identification paradigms and the length of delays between relevant tasks. We discuss both the theoretical and practical implications of this relationship for understanding memory for faces.
Neuschatz, J. S., Lawson, D. S., Swanner, J. K., Meissner, C. A., & Neuschatz, J. S. (2008). The effects of accomplice witnesses and jailhouse informants on jury decision making. Law & Human Behavior, 32, 137-149. The present study presents one of the first investigations of the effects of accomplice witnesses and jailhouse informants on jury decision-making. Across two experiments, participants read a trial transcript that included either a secondary confession from an accomplice witness, a jailhouse informant, a member of the community or a no confession control. In half of the experimental trial transcripts, the participants were made aware that the cooperating witness providing the secondary confession was given an incentive to testify. The results of both experiments revealed that information about the cooperating witness' incentive (e.g., leniency or reward) did not affect participants' verdict decisions. In Experiment 2, participant jurors appeared to commit the fundamental attribution error, as they attributed the motivation of the accomplice witness and jailhouse informant almost exclusively to personal factors as opposed to situational factors. Furthermore, both experiments revealed that mock jurors voted guilty significantly more often when there was a confession relative to a no confession control condition. The implications of the use of accomplice witness and jailhouse informant testimony are discussed.
Skeem, J. L., Louden, J. E., Manchak, S., Vidal, S., & Haddad, E. (2009). Social networks and social control of probationers with co-occurring mental and substance abuse problems. Law & Human Behavior, 33, 122-135. Probationers with co-occurring mental and substance abuse problems (PCPs) are both subject to considerable social control, and at high risk of probation failure. In this study, we screened 601 probationers for symptoms, interviewed 82 identified PCPs about their relationships, and then followed these PCPs for eight months to record treatment nonadherence and other probation violations. First, PCPs’ social networks were small, heavily comprised of professionals and opposing forces who engaged in risky behavior, and saturated with pressure to adhere to treatment. Second, the size and composition of PCPs’ social networks were more relevant to rule compliance than social support and undermining. Third, the quality of PCPs’ relationships was key: satisfying relationships with clinicians and, to a lesser extent, officers and the core network related to low perceived coercion, high treatment adherence, and low risk of future violations. In particular, having a likable clinician who engaged in participatory decision-making reduced the risk of violations. Implications for contextually sensitive risk reduction efforts are discussed.
Wood, J. M., Nathan, D., Nezworski, M. T., & Uhl, E. (2009). Child sexual abuse investigations: Lessons learned from the McMartin and other daycare cases. In B. L. Bottoms, C. J. Najdowski, & G. S. Goodman (Eds.), Children as victims, witnesses, and offenders: Psychological science and the law (pp. 81-101). New York: Guilford. During the 1980s and early 1990s, an epidemic of bizarre sexual abuse cases broke out across the United States. From the McMartin Preschool in California to daycare centers in Massachusetts and Florida, hundreds of young children reported being victimized by their caretakers and forced to participate in orgies and Satanic cults. The present chapter discusses the factors that contributed to this outbreak of “daycare hysteria.” Special attention is paid to the lessons that this episode offers regarding child suggestibility, child interviewing, and community panics.