Discuss four problem areas regarding jury deliberations
What will be an ideal response?
Answer will include that studies show that (1) jurors are rarely able to put aside their biases, attitudes, and values while making a decision. For example, appearance can be unduly influential. In one mock jury study, defendants were less likely to be convicted if they wearing eyeglasses than if they were not. Presumably eyeglasses imply intelligence and, hence, that the defendant wouldn't do anything as foolish as he or she was accused of. (2) A second major problem is that jurors are not very good at separating evidence from other information, such as their perceptions of the defendant, attorneys, witnesses, and what they think the judge wants. For example, if complex scientific evidence is presented, jurors tend to be swayed more by the expertise of the witness than by the evidence itself. (3) Similarly, psychologists have found that today's jurors place too much confidence in DNA evidence because crime-solving TV programs make it seem simple. Further, jurors who have been exposed to pretrial publicity tend to inappropriately incorporate that information into their jury deliberations, often without being aware it has happened. (4) Another area of difficulty arises because jurors usually cannot suspend judgment until all the evidence is in. Typically, they form an opinion early in the trial. It then becomes hard for them to fairly judge evidence that contradicts their opinion. However, the more severe the crime and the more clear-cut the evidence, the less a jury's biases affect the verdict.
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b. Definitely, although it only works with very young children and not adults. c. Probably. The facial feedback hypothesis says that emotions can change based on different facialexpressions. d. No. The self-perception theory says that our internal state is unrelated to our outward expressions.
The economic rule of thumb that only future costs and benefits, not past commitments, should be considered in making a decision is the
a. sunk cost principle. b. escalation effect. c. endowment effect. d. contingency model.
One explanation for the comorbidity of bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder with substance abuse disorders is that they all
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What responsibilities do researchers have to society in general? Why are these responsibilities important to consider when developing a research study?
What will be an ideal response?