Deck 15: Psychological Disorders

Question 1

A prosecuting attorney is uncertain whether her eyewitness will seem credible to the jury. The eyewitness's testimony could help win a conviction, but the witness might be discredited by the defense attorney. What advice should the prosecutor accept?

A) Put the eyewitness on the stand, since even a discredited eyewitness is more convincing than no eyewitness at all.
B) Do not put the eyewitness on the stand, since a discredited eyewitness is worse than no eyewitness at all.
C) Put the eyewitness on the stand but admit your reservations about the credibility of the eyewitness before the defense attorney raises the issue.
D) Put the eyewitness on the stand only if he or she is attractive and similar to the jurors.

Answer 1

Put the eyewitness on the stand, since even a discredited eyewitness is more convincing than no eyewitness at all.

Question 2

City police found that Mr. Caldwell, an eyewitness to a murder in a local bank, correctly remembered many trivial details of the crime scene, including the specific time on the clock and the paintings on the wall. Research findings suggest that Mr.
Caldwell's recall of trivial details means

A) it is more likely that he can also correctly identify the murderer.
B) it is less likely that he can also correctly identify the murderer.
C) nothing in terms of his ability to correctly identify the murderer.
D) it is more likely that he can also correctly identify the murderer, provided Mr. Caldwell is also highly educated.

Answer 2

it is less likely that he can also correctly identify the murderer.

Question 3

Research on false memories in children find that children

A) are not very confident about their memories.
B) cannot reliably separate real from false memories.
C) very rarely lie about their memories.
D) are unlikely to make false accusations.

Answer 3

cannot reliably separate real from false memories.

Question 4

Research on the memories of young children indicates that they

A) are better at remembering verbal details than visual details.
B) can reliably separate real from false memories.
C) are especially susceptible to misinformation.
D) do not react to misinformation.

Question 5

Of the following eyewitnesses to a crime, who would probably appear most believable to a jury?

A) Teddy, a fifth-grader whose father is a lawyer
B) Randy, a radio announcer who appears very confident about what he saw
C) Moira, a retired teacher who has traveled widely to visit other countries
D) Dawn, a shy student who smiles and speaks very softly

Question 6

Research indicates that eyewitnesses who remember trivial details of a crime scene

A) also tend to overestimate the degree of harm or damage done as a result of the crime.
B) also tend to be particularly suspicious of all unfamiliar faces.
C) are less likely to have paid attention to the culprit's face.
D) are more likely to have paid attention to the culprit's face.

Question 7

The process of witnessing an event, receiving misleading information about it, and then incorporating the misleading information into one's memory of the event is referred to as the _______ effect.

A) false memory
B) misinformation
C) inoculation
D) interference

Question 8

Jurors think that an eyewitness who can recall trivial details such as how many pictures were hanging in the room probably

A) gained information about these details by a second visit to the crime scene.
B) was paying better attention than one who recalls no details.
C) was not paying attention to the culprit or the crime itself.
D) is no more accurate in recalling important information than witnesses with no memory for details.

Question 9

A prosecuting attorney learns that a crucial eyewitness to a grocery store robbery correctly remembers trivial details of the crime scene. If the prosecutor hopes to convince the jury that the eyewitness is credible, research suggests

A) he should make the jury aware of the witness's ability to remember trivial details.
B) he should deliberately avoid making the jury aware of the witness's ability to remember trivial details.
C) it will make no difference whether the jury knows that the witness can remember trivial details.
D) he should make the jury aware of the witness's ability to remember trivial details only if the jury is composed of all males.

Question 10

Wells and his colleagues (2006) reported that it is the _______ eyewitnesses whom jurors find to be most believable.

A) older
B) younger
C) confident
D) emotional

Question 11

Which of the following statements about eyewitness testimony is FALSE?

A) Studies have confirmed that eyewitnesses often are more confident than correct.
B) Confident witnesses are more believable to jurors than those lacking confidence.
C) Younger eyewitnesses tend to be more accurate than older eyewitnesses.
D) Criminal cases lacking eyewitness testimony are more likely to produce convictions.

Question 12

Morgan and his team found that when soldiers were asked to identify their intimidating interrogators from a 15-person lineup, they correctly identified their high-stress interrogator _____ of the time.

A) 10 percent
B) 30 percent
C) 50 percent
D) 90 percent

Question 13

At the University of Washington, Loftus (1979) found that eyewitnesses in a hypothetical robbery-murder case were influential

A) unless their testimony was shown to be useless.
B) even when their testimony was discredited.
C) only if other evidence supported their story.
D) only if they were similar to those making the judgments.

Question 14

After hearing a television report falsely indicating that drugs may have contributed to a recent auto accident, several eyewitnesses of the accident begin to remember the driver as traveling at a faster rate of speed than was actually the case. This provides an example of

A) flashbulb memory.
B) state-dependent memory.
C) the serial position effect.
D) the misinformation effect.

Question 15

Research experiments by Wells and others (1979) show that incorrect eyewitnesses are believed _____ of the time.

A) 5 percent
B) 20 percent
C) 50 percent
D) 80 percent

Question 16

The tendency for witnesses to incorporate misleading information into their memories is especially strong when

A) suggestive questions are repeated.
B) the questioner is female rather than male.
C) the event was a traffic incident rather than a violent crime.
D) the witness is low in need for cognition.

Question 17

Studies of eyewitness testimony indicate that

A) jurors can discern whether eyewitnesses have mistakenly identified an innocent person.
B) when witnessing conditions are poor, jurors do not usually believe eyewitness testimony.
C) eyewitnesses who are shown to have poor eyesight have little effect on the jurors' judgment.
D) false eyewitnesses are usually recognized by the jury.

Question 18

In the process known as the misinformation effect, individuals

A) give misleading testimony in court.
B) receive wrong information about an event and then incorporate that information into their memory of the event.
C) purposely give wrong information to police.
D) fail to remember any information following a traumatic event.

Question 19

Loftus (1979) found that when an eyewitness who had testified against the defendant in a hypothetical robbery-murder case was discredited because of having poor vision

A) about half the jurors switched their votes from guilty to innocent.
B) the majority of jurors still voted for conviction.
C) jurors regarded the eyewitness testimony as useless and it had no impact on their verdict.
D) a boomerang effect occurred with all the jurors changing their votes in favor of an acquittal.

Question 20

Which of the following statements is TRUE of eyewitness testimony?

A) Eyewitnesses are often more correct than confident.
B) Confident eyewitnesses are less accurate when making identifications soon after the event.
C) A confident witness is not necessarily an accurate witness.
D) Eyewitnesses who pay attention to details are most likely to pay attention to the culprit's face.

Question 21

Sheppard and Vidmar (1980) had some students serve as witnesses to a fight, while others took the roles of lawyers and judges. When they had been interviewed by the defense lawyer, the witnesses

A) gave testimony condemning the defendant as guilty.
B) gained self-confidence and claimed to remember more details.
C) gave testimony that was favorable to the defendant.
D) were less susceptible to the misinformation effect.

Question 22

In Wells and Bradfield's study (1999), participants were asked to identify a gunman they had seen on video. After making a false identification but receiving confirming feedback, ___ percent rated their initial certainty as very high.

A) 94
B) 58
C) 34
D) 5

Question 23

In order to promote accurate recall, the "cognitive interview" procedure for questioning eyewitnesses begins with

A) specific questions about the event.
B) guiding eyewitnesses to visualize the scene.
C) advising witnesses about what others have said.
D) flooding witnesses with mug shots right away.

Question 24

In Wells and Bradfield's study (1999), participants were asked if feedback from the experimenter had influenced their certainty regarding their identification of the gunman. What percentage of the participants denied any influence of the feedback?

A) 100 percent
B) 75 percent
C) 58 percent
D) 10 percent

Question 25

Which is NOT one of the confidence boosters for eyewitnesses found by Wells and Bradfield?

A) learning that another witness has identified the same person
B) being asked the same question repeatedly
C) preparing for cross-examination
D) not getting feedback confirmation after identification of a suspect

Question 26

Which of the following eyewitness testimonies is probably the most reliable?

A) Millie's report given immediately after a grocery store robbery. She was simply asked to tell the police what she saw.
B) Fred's report given in court about a bank robbery a month ago. He has been interviewed several times by the defense attorney before appearing in court.
C) Sue's report given immediately after observing an attempted rape. She was asked very specific questions by the police, who had identified a suspect immediately after the assault.
D) All of these would be equally reliable.

Question 27

Which of the following can result in an eyewitness gaining confidence?

A) being the only person who saw the event
B) being asked the same question repeatedly
C) testifying against a person whose race is different from his or her own
D) disliking the defendant

Question 28

Researchers have found that eyewitnesses' accuracy can improve when

A) interrogators delay the interview at least one week.
B) the witnesses scan a group of mug shots or a composite drawing before reviewing a lineup.
C) they are presented with a sequence of individual people, one by one, instead of being presented with a group of photos or a lineup.
D) the seriousness of the crime is highlighted.

Question 29

Young children's susceptibility to the misinformation effect raises the distinct possibility that

A) some people have been falsely accused in sex abuse cases.
B) many educators overestimate the competence of their students.
C) children forget that they were physically abused.
D) many children are simply unable to experience empathy for dissimilar others.

Question 30

A police interrogator questioning an eyewitness to a robbery hopes to learn whether the assailant was wearing a bright green hat similar to one seen in another robbery. According to research, which of the following questions will elicit the most detailed,
Undistorted recall from the eyewitness?

A) "Did you see whether the robber was wearing a hat?"
B) "Can you describe the hat the robber was wearing?"
C) "What color was the robber's hat?"
D) "How was the robber dressed?"

Question 31

Which one of the following is an indicator that can suggest accuracy in lineup identification?

A) being an older eyewitness
B) taking a long time to make an identification
C) being very confident about an identification
D) making a very quick identification

Question 32

Which of the following can distort eyewitness testimony?

A) suggestive questions
B) an eyewitness's own retelling of events
C) police officers' response to witness statements
D) all of the above

Question 33

Which of the following is NOT a recommended strategy for increasing the accuracy of eyewitnesses and jurors?

A) Train police interviewers to elicit unbiased accounts.
B) Educate jurors about the factors influencing eyewitness testimony.
C) Ask witnesses to scan a lineup of several mug shots simultaneously rather than one at a time.
D) Use scripted and neutral questions during lineups so there are no subtle demands of identification.

Question 34

In a police lineup, the lineup interviewer's feedback

A) has no effect on the witness's confidence.
B) is of little significance.
C) has a large effect on the witness's confidence.
D) is usually not believed by the witness.

Question 35

Wells et al., (1981) had eyewitnesses to a staged theft rehearse their answers to questions before taking the witness stand. Doing so

A) increased the accuracy of the eyewitness testimony.
B) decreased the confidence of those who were correct.
C) increased the confidence of those who were wrong.
D) decreased the jurors' confidence in them.

Question 36

Stan is uncertain about the man he identified as the burglar in a police lineup. His confidence is most likely to increase after

A) learning that he was the only eyewitness in the case.
B) being asked the same question repeatedly.
C) viewing a thousand police mug shots.
D) seeing the grainy, inconclusive security camera video.

Question 37

Which of the following statements is true of retelling?

A) Retelling events accurately makes people less resistant to the misinformation effect.
B) Rehearsing answers before taking the witness stand decreases the confidence of those who are wrong.
C) Retelling events commits people to their recollections, accurate or not.
D) Retelling has no effect on memory.

Question 38

Dunning and Perretta (2002) found that those eyewitnesses who made their identifications _______ were nearly 90 percent accurate.

A) after a long deliberation
B) confidently
C) in less than 10-12 seconds
D) and then changed them

Question 39

Studies have identified the post-identification feedback effect, and suggest that in order to avoid it,

A) witnesses should look for confirmation from interrogators.
B) witnesses should not be permitted to communicate with the interrogators.
C) interrogators should confirm which person is the suspect.
D) interrogators should be kept ignorant of who is the suspect.

Question 40

The new police interview technique that improves information gathering is called

A) panel interview.
B) cognitive interview.
C) behavioral interview.
D) verbal overshadowing.

Question 41

Who among the following is likely to receive the most severe sentence for drunk driving?

A) Kim, a good looking real estate agent
B) Tim, an unattractive auto mechanic with long hair
C) Ken, a clean-cut businessman
D) Carol, an attractive single mother

Question 42

Blair and her colleagues (2004) reported that over a two-decade period, Black males convicted of murdering a White defendant were doubly likely to be sentenced to death if

A) the murder was violent.
B) the jurors were inexperienced.
C) the jurors were older.
D) they had more stereotypically Afrocentric features.

Question 43

When Amato (1979) had Australian students read evidence concerning a left- or right-wing person accused of a politically motivated burglary, they judged him less guilty if

A) he claimed to have no religious preferences.
B) his political views were similar to their own.
C) he claimed he had been hired to commit the crime.
D) he proved he had not profited by the burglary.

Question 44

All of the following are good procedures to follow when dealing with the lineup process EXCEPT

A) making the witness give a "yes" or "no" judgment in response to a sequence of suspects.
B) letting the witness view suspects one at a time.
C) using questions that are spontaneous, not scripted.
D) prohibiting any confidence-inflating post-lineup comments.

Question 45

To minimize the effects of inadmissible testimony, judges are best advised to

A) wait until jurors have heard the testimony before ruling it inadmissible, so jurors specifically know what they are to disregard.
B) videotape the testimony and cut out the inadmissible parts.
C) meet with jurors during their deliberations after the trial to insure that inadmissible testimony is not influencing their judgments.
D) immediately follow the trial by seeking a verbal pledge from each juror to ignore inadmissible evidence.

Question 46

In an experiment conducted with the help of BBC Television, Wiseman (1998) reported that viewers saw the defendant played by either an attractive or an unattractive actor. How did the viewers react?

A) More viewers "convicted" the attractive defendant.
B) More viewers "convicted" the unattractive defendant.
C) There was no difference in the conviction rates of the attractive and unattractive defendants.
D) Baby-faced defendants were more often found guilty.

Question 47

Someone accused of a crime is judged more sympathetically

A) by females than by males.
B) if he or she has good communication skills.
C) if he or she appears similar to the one who judges.
D) if there was a bystander who watched and did not intervene.

Question 48

Jurors have difficulty "erasing" the impact of inadmissible evidence

A) when it is a criminal trial as opposed to a civil trial.
B) when the inadmissible evidence is presented by the defense as opposed to the prosecution.
C) especially when the inadmissible evidence has an emotional impact.
D) when a witness, as opposed to a trial lawyer, blurts out the inadmissible evidence.

Question 49

Research shows that when a judge rules evidence to be inadmissible and admonishes the jury to ignore it,

A) jurors are generally able to follow the judge's instructions.
B) jurors have a hard time ignoring the evidence and its influence on their deliberations.
C) jurors do so if the evidence damages the defendant's case but not if it hurts the prosecution's case.
D) the evidence typically becomes the focus of debate in jury deliberations.

Question 50

In researching over 1,700 defendants appearing in Texas misdemeanor cases, Downs and Lyons (1991) found that the judges ____________ less attractive defendants.

A) set lower bails for
B) set greater fines for
C) spent less time reviewing the cases of
D) spent more time questioning

Question 51

When Efran (1974) gave students a description of a case of students cheating and showed them a photograph of either an attractive or unattractive person accused of the crime, he found that attractive defendants were

A) recommended for least punishment.
B) more likely to be judged as guilty.
C) more respected.
D) perceived as more dangerous.

Question 52

Jurors exhibit a tendency to treat racial outgroups

A) more favorably.
B) without bias.
C) less favorably.
D) with a strong negative bias.

Question 53

If convicted, _______ people strike people as more dangerous, especially if they are sexual offenders.

A) cute or baby-faced
B) attractive
C) unattractive
D) underage

Question 54

Which of the following factors has been shown to influence either the likelihood of conviction or the severity of punishment?

A) status
B) attractiveness
C) similarity to the jurors
D) all of the above

Question 55

Nearly all the states in the U.S. now have _______ statutes that prohibit or limit testimony concerning a rape victim's prior sexual activity.

A) inadmissible rape testimony
B) rape denial
C) rape shield
D) no

Question 56

Which of the following statements is true about the judge's instructions?

A) Most people admit that pretrial publicity has influenced their tendency to be biased.
B) The effect of pretrial publicity on jury members can be removed by a judge's instructions to disregard such publicity.
C) A judge's orders to ignore inadmissible testimony can boomerang-adding to the impact of the testimony.
D) Getting jurors to publicly pledge their impartiality eliminates the effect of pretrial publicity.

Question 57

You have just been appointed to serve as a new county judge. You are concerned about the effect inadmissible evidence may have on the jury in an upcoming trial of a case involving rape. You anticipate that the defense attorney will seek to introduce evidence regarding the victim's prior sexual history. To minimize the impact of such evidence on the jury, you should

A) say nothing about such inadmissible evidence to the jury.
B) remind the jury before the trial that the victim's previous sexual history is irrelevant.
C) only tell the jury that the evidence is inadmissible after the defense attempts to introduce it.
D) ask the defendant to refute any damaging evidence about her previous sexual history.

Question 58

Studies have reported that Blacks are _____ as defendants or _____ as victims, or both.

A) undervalued; undervalued
B) overpunished; overvalued
C) undervalued; overvalued
D) overpunished; undervalued

Question 59

Which of the following arises when someone threatens our freedom of action?

A) reactance
B) disinhibition
C) self-efficacy
D) self-monitoring

Question 60

Which of the following strategies can be used for reducing misidentifications in police lineups?

A) Give eyewitnesses a "blank" lineup that contains no suspects and screen out those who make false identifications.
B) Minimize false identifications with instructions that acknowledge that the offender may not be in the lineup.
C) Use a sequential lineup where eyewitnesses can compare each person with their memory of the culprit and make an absolute decision.
D) All of the above.

Question 61

Research on the effects of group deliberation by a jury suggests all of the following EXCEPT that

A) jurors exert normative pressure.
B) jurors share information.
C) deliberation does not cancel out certain biases.
D) deliberation can draw attention away from jurors' previous prejudgments of the evidence.

Question 62

Death-qualified jurors are

A) more likely to be women.
B) less likely to convict in criminal cases.
C) more likely to convict in criminal cases.
D) more concerned with due process of law than with crime control.

Question 63

Support for capital punishment in the United States has _______ since 1994.

A) fallen
B) increased slightly
C) remained stable
D) increased significantly

Question 64

Research on the effects of group deliberation by a jury suggests that

A) groups do no better at recalling information from a trial than do their individual members.
B) deliberation cancels out some of the biases that contaminate individual judgments.
C) deliberation increases the likelihood that jurors will use inadmissible evidence.
D) deliberation draws jurors' attention toward their own prejudgments.

Question 65

Racially mixed mock juries have been found to

A) express more leniency.
B) be less open to information.
C) be harsher in sentencing.
D) be more susceptible to group polarization.

Question 66

Evidence from social science research clearly indicates that

A) death-qualified jurors are more sympathetic to defendants than non-death-qualified jurors.
B) the death penalty is not a significant deterrent to crime.
C) the death penalty undoubtedly is a significant deterrent to crime.
D) homicide rates drop when states initiate the death penalty.

Question 67

When jurors or some judges hearing a case are of like-minded people, they tend to go to extremes when making a decision as a group. This is an example of

A) group polarization.
B) group shift.
C) outgroup bias.
D) groupthink effect.

Question 68

In 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a split decision,

A) ruled that death-qualified jurors are a biased sample.
B) overturned a lower court ruling that death-qualified jurors are a biased sample.
C) ruled that Georgia's five-member juries were as reliable and accurate as twelve-member juries.
D) overturned a lower court decision that six-member juries could decide cases involving the death penalty.

Question 69

Research suggests that jurors in the minority will be most persuasive when they are all of the following EXCEPT

A) consistent.
B) self-confident.
C) persistent.
D) well-educated.

Question 70

Hastie et al., (1983) showed participants reenactments of an actual murder case and asked them to deliberate until they agreed on a verdict. After deliberation, their initial leanings

A) had weakened.
B) had grown stronger.
C) were inconsequential.
D) did not change.

Question 71

Research indicates that six-member juries

A) are more likely to have hung verdicts.
B) more accurately recall trial testimony.
C) are less likely to include a community's diversity.
D) All of the above

Question 72

Jury researcher Michael Saks (1998) reported that

A) smaller juries more accurately recall trial testimony.
B) larger juries more accurately recall trial testimony.
C) smaller juries give more time to deliberations.
D) larger juries seldom contain members of minority groups.

Question 73

Research suggests that minorities are most likely to sway the majority when the minority

A) favors conviction.
B) favors acquittal.
C) is composed of women.
D) is composed of Whites.

Question 74

What is meant by the "two-thirds-majority" scheme?

A) Two-thirds of all people asked refuse to serve on a jury.
B) Two out of three times judges agree with the jury's decision.
C) A two-thirds majority is a better rule than consensus for a jury to follow in reaching a verdict.
D) The jury verdict is usually the alternative favored by at least two-thirds of the jurors at the outset.

Question 75

Ellsworth and Mauro (1998) reported that gender seems to be linked with verdicts only in

A) racially charged cases.
B) rape and battered woman cases.
C) personal injury awards in suits against businesses.
D) murder cases.

Question 76

Research suggests that jury deliberations can be influenced by all of the following processes EXCEPT

A) group polarization.
B) minority influence.
C) deindividuation.
D) informational influence.

Question 77

Which of the following statements is true of death penalty and homicide rates?

A) States with the death penalty have lower homicide rates.
B) States with the death penalty do not have lower homicide rates.
C) Homicide rates increase when states abolish the death penalty.
D) Homicide rates drop when states initiate the death penalty.

Question 78

Research suggests that jurors in the minority will be most persuasive when they

A) are inclined toward changing their position.
B) begin to trigger some defections from the majority.
C) tend to be aggressive in their attitudes.
D) are similar to the others.

Question 79

After hearing evidence in a murder trial, ten jurors believed that the evidence was insufficient to convict the 25-year-old Black defendant. According to the group polarization hypothesis, after the jurors deliberated, they would be

A) more convinced that the defendant was guilty.
B) more convinced that the evidence was insufficient to convict.
C) evenly split, with some convinced that he was guilty and others convinced that he was innocent.
D) split, with the minority favoring acquittal and the majority favoring conviction.

Question 80

An attorney will be defending James S., who is accused of raping a 22-year-old woman. Who among the following jurors is likely to be least sympathetic to his client's case?

A) John, a 40-year-old plumber who once served a sentence for burglary
B) Todd, a 22-year-old college student who is a political liberal
C) Wilma, a 42-year-old mother of two who tends to be authoritarian
D) Rita, a 32-year-old television executive who opposes the death penalty