Imagine yourself as a juror in the following murder case (from Loftus, 1993). The defendant is George Franklin, Sr., 51 years old, standing trial for a murder that occurred more than 20 years earlier. The victim was eight year-old Susan Kay Nason. Franklin's daughter, Eileen, only eight years old herself at the time of the murder, provided the major evidence against her father. Eileen's memory of the murder, however, had re-emerged only recently, after 20 years of being repressed.
What will be an ideal response?
Eileen's memory first began to come back when she was playing with her two-year-old son and her five-year-old daughter. At one moment, her daughter looked up and asked a question like "Isn't that right, Mommy?" A memory of Susan Nason suddenly came to Eileen. She recalled the look of betrayal in Susie's eyes just before the murder. Later, more fragments would return, until Eileen had a rich and detailed memory. She remembered her father sexually assaulting Susie in the back of a van. She remembered that Susie was struggling as she said "No, don't!" and "Stop!" She remembered her father saying "Now, Susie," and she even mimicked his precise intonation. Next, her memory took the three of them outside the van, where she saw her father raise a rock above his head. She remembered screaming and walking back to where Susie lay, covered with blood, the silver ring on her finger smashed.
When questioned by prosecutors, Eileen was highly confident in her memory. Based on what we have learned in class, and what was covered in your text, would you convict George Franklin of the murder of Susan Nason? Why or why not? (Discussion appears on p. 482 at the back of this book.)
Key terms and concepts that may be included in student responses:
? Many theorists who study dissociative identity disorder view it as the result of coping strategies used by persons faced with intolerable trauma-most often childhood sexual and/or physical abuse
? Numerous studies from the literature on eyewitness identification and testimony indicating that people can be made to believe certain events occurred that in fact never happened and that these beliefs can persist for months or years
? Loftus's "lost at the mall" studies
? Ost et al., London bus explosion study
? McNally et al., alien abduction studies
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Phonological awareness allows a child to
a. apply a sound to an object. b. segment spoken words into sounds. c. understand the meaning of words. d. realize that some letters are commonly grouped together (e.g., "ed").
The fact that blind people have similar facial expressions to sighted people undercuts the universality hypothesis of emotions.
Answer the following statement true (T) or false (F)
How did Margaret and Harry Harlow first demonstrate the importance of contact comfort in the formation of attachment relationships?
What will be an ideal response?
Jack and John were recently dumped by their girlfriends. Jack believes that his girlfriend broke up with him because she was selfish and unhappy, whereas John believes that his girlfriend broke up with him because she had to attend to a family emergency and could not make a commitment at the moment. Jack is making a(n) ________ about his girlfriend's behavior, whereas John is making a(n) ________.
A. internal attribution; external attribution B. downward social comparison; upward social comparison C. external attribution; internal attribution D. upward social comparison; downward social comparison