Deck 18: Applying social psychology to the law

Question 1

In a target-absent line-up, it is impossible for an eyewitness to make an identification decision that qualifies as a(n) ____.

A)correct identification
B)correct rejection
C)incorrect rejection
D)incorrect identification

Answer 1

correct identification

Question 2

In general, jurors ____.

A)are swayed by eyewitness testimony only when there is substantial corroborating evidence
B)respond to experts' testimony about problems with eyewitness testimony by tending to view all eyewitness testimony sceptically
C)are quite capable of evaluating the reliability of eyewitness testimony based on their own life experiences
D)typically reject eyewitness testimony because they are well aware that people can and do lie

Answer 2

respond to experts' testimony about problems with eyewitness testimony by tending to view all eyewitness testimony sceptically

Question 3

When instructions to individuals viewing the line-up include a warning that the perpetrator may not be in the line-up, there is a(n) ____.

A)decrease in the number of correct identifications made by witnesses
B)increase in the number of correct identifications made by witnesses
C)decrease in the number of mistaken identifications made by witnesses
D)increase in the number of mistaken identifications made by witnesses

Answer 3

decrease in the number of correct identifications made by witnesses

Question 4

Suppose that Mlibo was an eyewitness to a store robbery.She gives the police a description of the criminal: '30-35 year-old male, brown hair, light eyes, about 5'10', with a missing finger on his left hand.' A few weeks later, police track down a suspect.He fits Mlibo's description, and additionally has a lazy eye and a huge tattoo on his neck.If police use the match-to-culprit approach in constructing a line-up for eyewitness identification, then the other people in the line-up ____.

A)may or may not have brown hair
B)will definitely have brown hair, but may or may not be missing fingers
C)will definitely have brown hair and missing fingers, but may or may not have a tattoo
D)will definitely have brown hair, missing fingers, and a tattoo

Question 5

System variables that influence eyewitness identifications in criminal line-ups are most analogous to ____ that influence participant behaviour in social psychological experiments.

A)interactions
B)confounds
C)demand characteristics
D)confirmation biases

Question 6

What is an example of a system variable that might lead to inaccuracies in eyewitness identifications in line-ups?

A)The number of people chosen to appear in the line-up alongside the suspect
B)Whether the eyewitness is confident about his or her identification of the eyewitness during the line-up procedure
C)Whether the eyewitness and the criminal are of the same race/ethnicity
D)Whether the witness is confident about the original statement that he or she gave to the police

Question 7

In a properly conducted line-up, wherein eyewitnesses are asked to identify criminals who they saw commit a crime, the other people in the line-up are people who ____.

A)are all suspects of the crime
B)are all known to be innocent of the crime
C)do not match the physical description of the suspect
D)do not match the psychological profile of the suspect

Question 8

Line-up members other than the suspect who are known to be innocent of the crime are called ____.

A)foils
B)false flags
C)fillers
D)validators

Question 9

When criminal psychologists distinguish between system variables and estimator variables as two sources of inaccuracy in eyewitness reports and identifications, they are distinguishing between variables ____.

A)that are under the control of the criminal justice system versus those that are not
B)that are static versus those that are present only at the scene of the crime
C)that are relatively objective versus those that are subjective
D)that are based on memory versus those based on inference

Question 10

According to the text, when police use line-up procedures to obtain identifications of criminals from eyewitnesses, which is better, the match-to-suspect approach or the match-to-culprit approach?

A)The match-to-suspect approach - because it does not 'burn' eyewitnesses as much.
B)The match-to-suspect approach - because it is less likely to 'lead' suspects.
C)The match-to-culprit approach - because it does not 'burn' eyewitnesses as much.
D)The match-to-culprit approach - because it is less likely to 'lead' suspects.

Question 11

Research on estimator variables has found that _____.

A)men and women have similar rates of both correct and mistaken identifications
B)men and women have similar rates of correct identifications but men have higher rates of mistaken identifications
C)men and women have similar rates of mistaken identifications but men have higher rates of correct identifications
D)women have higher rates of both correct and mistaken identifications

Question 12

Danitha says she was terrified when she was assaulted and is not sure she can identify who did it, especially since her glasses were knocked off early during the assault.She views a line-up in which the 'true' perpetrator is known to be present.Danitha, however, cannot pick the individual out of the line-up, resulting in a(n) ____.

A)correct rejection
B)incorrect rejection
C)correct identification
D)false identification

Question 13

Own-race bias refers to the observation that ____.

A)people tend to trust individuals of their own race more than people of other races
B)people are more likely to correctly identify members of their own race than members of other races
C)people tend to believe that members of other races are more likely to commit crimes than are members of their own race
D)people preferentially associate with members of their own race, increasing the likelihood they will be victimised by members of their own race

Question 14

When it comes to eyewitness identifications in police line-ups, sequential line-ups are generally preferred to simultaneous line-ups - especially when witnesses ____.

A)do not know how many people are in the line-up
B)are told in advance how many people are in the line-up
C)are asked to rate the similarity of each person in the line-up to the criminal
D)are asked to rank each person in the line-up in order of his or her similarity to the criminal

Question 15

In the ____ line-up procedure, witnesses view each line-up member in turn, making a decision about whether that line-up member is the culprit before viewing the next member of the line-up.

A)simultaneous
B)signal detection
C)sequential
D)decision-based

Question 16

Suppose that Mlibo was an eyewitness to a store robbery.She gives the police a description of the criminal: '30-35 year-old male, brown hair, light eyes, about 5'10', with a missing finger on his left hand.' A few weeks later, police track down a suspect.He fits Mlibo's description, and additionally has a lazy eye and a huge tattoo on his neck.If police use the match-to-suspect approach in constructing a line-up for eyewitness identification, then the foils in the line-up ____.

A)may or may not have brown hair
B)will definitely have brown hair, but may or may not be missing fingers
C)will definitely have brown hair and missing fingers, but may or may not have a tattoo
D)will definitely have brown hair, missing fingers, and a tattoo

Question 17

Rulani is suspected of committing a robbery and appears in a line-up in which the shopkeeper claims that he is the robber.As it turns out, Rulani simply looks remarkably like the person who committed the crime, but did not, himself, commit the crime.Rulani has been a victim of ____.

A)correct rejection
B)incorrect rejection
C)correct identification
D)false identification

Question 18

In general, which of the following BEST summarises how convincing eyewitness testimony is to jurors?

A)Not very convincing - even when jurors have reason to believe that the eyewitness had good opportunity to study the criminal's appearance
B)Not very convincing - unless the eyewitness is reporting having seen a good friend, relative, or other highly familiar person commit a crime
C)Very convincing - unless jurors have reason to believe that the eyewitness had impaired vision at the time of the crime
D)Very convincing - even when jurors have reason to believe that the eyewitness had impaired vision at the time of the crime