Deck : Social Psychology and the Law

Question 1

The introduction to Social Psychology and the Law tells a true story about Randall Adams, who was falsely convicted of murdering a police officer, and who languished on death row for twelve years until he finally won his freedom. This introduction was designed to illustrate __________.

A) the unreliability of eyewitness testimony
B) that the criminal justice system is far from colorblind
C) that the legal system is much in need of reform
D) the power of circumstantial evidence

Answer 1

the unreliability of eyewitness testimony

Question 2

__________ refers to the process by which people store some, but not all information from the environment in memory.

A) Encoding
B) Storage
C) Selective encoding
D) Retrieval

Answer 2

Storage

Question 3

Storage refers to the process by which people __________.

A) store some, but not all information from the environment in memory
B) notice and pay attention to information in their environment, transforming sensory data into some sort of mental representation
C) recall information stored in memory
D) go through three stages of memory processing

Answer 3

store some, but not all information from the environment in memory

Question 4

The Innocence Project lists more than 350 cases in which someone has been exonerated with DNA evidence after being convicted of a crime - often, after already having spent many years in prison. In approximately __________ of these cases, the conviction was based, at least in part, on faulty eyewitness testimony.

A) 25%
B) 50%
C) 75%
D) 100%

Question 5

__________ refers to the process by which people recall information stored in memory.

A) Recovery
B) Encoding
C) Retrieval
D) Recognition

Question 6

Sally was working the night shift at a convenience store. A man came in, pulled out a gun, and demanded that Sally give him all of the money in the cash register. When the police interview Sally about the crime, what would she be most likely to tell them?

A) the color of the man's eyes
B) the height of the man
C) that the man wielded a gun
D) the type of clothes the man wore

Question 7

Which of the following is a factor that can hinder an eyewitness's memory during the encoding stage?

A) poor lighting conditions
B) the event happens in full daylight
C) they were waiting and watching for a crime to happen
D) the event takes a while

Question 8

If you were a prosecutor, what would you be most likely to do to convince the jury that the defendant is guilty?

A) mention the defendant's criminal record
B) explain the defendant's motives for committing the crime
C) describe the circumstantial evidence that places the defendant at the crime scene
D) have an eyewitness testify that she saw the defendant commit the crime

Question 9

Retrieval refers to the process by which people __________.

A) store some, but not all information from the environment in memory
B) notice and pay attention to information in their environment, transforming sensory data into some sort of mental representation
C) recall information stored in memory
D) go through three stages of memory processing

Question 10

Margo was frightened and confused when a robber appeared at the convenience store where she works. It seemed that the only thing she could see was the gun he had pointed right in her face. Later, when Margo serves as an eyewitness, she may not be reliable because of problems she had at the __________ stage of memory processing.

A) encoding
B) storage
C) retrieval
D) attentional

Question 11

Brewer and Wells (2011), Pezdek (2012) and Wells (2014) report one of the most common causes of an innocent person being convicted of a crime as __________.

A) absence of an eyewitness
B) an erroneous eyewitness
C) too few eyewitnesses
D) too many eyewitnesses

Question 12

Reconstructive memory is defined as the process __________.

A) whereby memories of an event become distorted by information encountered after the event occurred
B) whereby people try to identify the source of their memories
C) by which recollections of a past event, such as sexual abuse, has been forgotten or repressed
D) by which people recall information stored in their memories

Question 13

__________ refers to the process whereby people notice and pay attention to information in their environment, transforming sensory data into some sort of mental representation.

A) Encoding
B) Storage
C) Selective encoding
D) Retrieval

Question 14

The main reasons social psychologists have studied the legal system are ___________.

A) many social psychologists are legal consultants and social psychologists have an advantage in the court room due to their study of the law
B) because of its importance in daily life and many social psychologists are legal consultants
C) because it is an applied setting in which to study basic psychological processes and because of its importance in daily life
D) because it is an applied setting in which to study basic psychological processes and social psychologists have an advantage in the court room due to their study of the law

Question 15

You come home from work and find pieces of broken glass on the floor. You realize that your favorite vase was broken. Immediately you blame your new puppy, without even noticing that your toddler's teddy bear is lying on the floor near the broken glass. The fact that you missed seeing the teddy bear is probably due to __________.

A) your poor vision
B) your belief that puppies are destructive
C) unconscious transference
D) source-monitoring errors

Question 16

When a crime happens quickly and under poor viewing conditions, what stage of memory processing is most likely to be hindered?

A) encoding
B) storage
C) retrieval
D) reconstruction

Question 17

The Innocence Project lists more than __________ cases where people have been exonerated by DNA evidence after spending years in prison.

A) 125
B) 250
C) 350
D) 500

Question 18

Four men have been indicted for robbing $20,000 from a bank. After the trial, the jury will be most likely to convict __________.

A) Art, who has a criminal record for petty theft
B) Brian, who recently purchased a new car for $10,000 cash
C) Cliff, who was the only one identified by an eyewitness
D) Matt, whose fingerprints were found at the scene

Question 19

According to the authors, accurate eyewitness identification results from a series of three stages of memory processing, which are __________.

A) attention, retention, and credibility
B) encoding, attention, and retrieval
C) encoding, storage, and retrieval
D) accuracy, confidence, and credibility

Question 20

Encoding refers to the process by which __________.

A) people store some, but not all information from the environment in memory
B) people notice and pay attention to information in their environment, transforming sensory data into some sort of mental representation
C) people recall information stored in memory
D) people go through three stages of memory processing

Question 21

According to the authors of your text, the process whereby people try to identify the source of their memories is the best definition of __________.

A) retrieval
B) source monitoring
C) reconstructive memory
D) storage

Question 22

You remember learning in elementary school that Topeka is the capital of Kansas. However, you don't remember whether you learned that fact from your third-grade teacher, Mr. Rodriguez, or your fourth-grade teacher, Ms. Cesario. It seems you may be having problems with __________.

A) differential thinking
B) acquisition
C) schematic thinking.
D) source monitoring

Question 23

Which of the following is an error in eyewitness testimony that occurs in the storage phase of memory?

A) the own-race bias
B) the best-guess phenomenon
C) source monitoring errors
D) focus on weapons

Question 24

People are better at recognizing faces that are of the same race as they are, a phenomenon known as __________.

A) source-monitoring errors
B) own-race bias
C) unconscious transference
D) selective memory

Question 25

One key factor that determines how strongly someone is falling subject to own-race bias is __________.

A) prejudicial attitude
B) stereotype threat
C) the mere exposure effect
D) the amount of contact with other races

Question 26

One day, your roommate asks you if you like the new sculpture outside of the Fine Arts building. You tell him that you like the sculpture there, but you later realize that the sculpture actually is in front of the Administration building. It seems your roommate's __________ question yielded a __________.

A) misleading; false memory
B) misleading; reconstructed memory
C) directive; false memory
D) rhetorical; reconstructed memory

Question 27

Which of the following is the most accurate statement about the storage process of memory?

A) Once an event is acquired, it is placed in storage, much like a photo album.
B) Memories in storage can be edited dramatically.
C) Memories in storage cannot be altered.
D) Memories in storage can only be altered slightly over time.

Question 28

Own-race bias may occur because when people look at same-race faces, they focus on __________, whereas when they look at different-race faces, they focus on __________.

A) the whole face all together; features one at a time
B) distinctive individual facial features; the whole face all together
C) distinctive individual features; features that distinguish different races
D) noses and mouths; eyes

Question 29

Recall that Loftus and her colleagues (1978) showed participants a series of slides that depicted an automobile accident. Some participants saw a yield sign in the photos and other participants saw a stop sign. Later, participants were asked questions that contained information that either did or did not match what they had actually seen (i.e., a stop sign versus a yield sign). Results demonstrated that participants had more difficulty remembering what they had actually seen when __________.

A) they had a short time to view the slide series.
B) question contents contradicted what they had actually seen.
C) question contents reflected what they had actually seen
D) they reported what they had seen after being questioned, rather than before

Question 30

In lineups, witnesses often choose the person who most resembles the image they have stored in memory. This can yield inaccurate identifications, and suggests that the __________ stage of memory is affected by the typical lineup procedure.

A) acquisition
B) storage
C) retrieval
D) reconstructive

Question 31

Researchers (Man & Hills, 2017; Wright & Stroud, 2002) have found effects similar to own-race bias for __________. .

A) gender and height
B) age and marital status
C) age and hair color
D) gender and age

Question 32

Research presented in your text on the own-race bias has shown that in general, people are better at recognizing faces of people who __________.

A) are tall
B) are a similar race to theirs
C) are the same gender as them
D) look distinctive or unusual in some way

Question 33

A mechanic at a truck rental office described a muscular man with a baseball cap and black T-shirt as the person who rented the truck that was eventually used in the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City. However, Timothy McVeigh, who was convicted of the bombing, did not resemble that description. The mechanic realized he had been confused and instead had described an innocent man who was at the truck rental office the day before McVeigh appeared there. This is a real-world example of faulty __________.

A) questioning of eyewitnesses
B) acquisition of relevant information
C) source monitoring
D) retrieval of relevant information

Question 34

The authors of your text describe an incident in which a friend of theirs, Alan, found the body of an elderly neighbor. Despite obvious signs that she was murdered, Alan insisted that she died of old age because __________.

A) he has poor social perception
B) his expectations that she died of old age led him to ignore evidence that she was murdered
C) only an experienced police officer would have the skills to determine a murder took place
D) he was the real murderer, but wanted to cover up his crime

Question 35

It is possible that before eyewitnesses came forward to identify Randall Adams as the man who murdered a police officer, they had seen his face on television or in the newspaper. Because they saw Adams in the media, they might have come to believe that he was the man they saw on the road where the murder occurred. This is an example of __________.

A) own-race bias
B) source monitoring errors
C) the power of schemas to bias attention
D) racial misidentification

Question 36

Christian, a Caucasian man, and Sung-Yee, a Korean man, are walking to their cars when an Asian man pulls out a knife and demands their wallets. In a lineup, Christian cannot tell which man is the one who attacked him, but Sung-Yee has no problem identifying the culprit. This is an example of __________.

A) source-monitoring
B) bystander apathy
C) selective attention
D) own-race bias

Question 37

What is the most likely source of the own-race bias?

A) Familiar stimuli are easier to recognize than unfamiliar stimuli.
B) Prejudice biases attention and memory.
C) Arousal impedes attention and subsequent memory accuracy.
D) Much of memory is reconstructive.

Question 38

Julia's natural parents are Ethiopian, but white parents in California raised her. Chances are, she most easily recognizes __________.

A) white faces
B) African faces
C) mixed-race faces
D) white and African faces equally well

Question 39

Source monitoring is defined as __________.

A) the process whereby memories of an event become distorted by information encountered after the event occurred
B) the process whereby people try to identify the source of their memories
C) the process by which recollections of a past event, such as sexual abuse, that has been forgotten or repressed
D) the process by which people recall information stored in their memories

Question 40

The process whereby information obtained after an event alters memories of the event is known as __________.

A) reconstructive memory
B) unconscious transference
C) selective memory
D) node integration

Question 41

Social psychological research has revealed a __________ relation between eyewitness confidence and accuracy.

A) negative
B) nonexistent
C) strong
D) weak

Question 42

Which of the following procedures would lead to more accurate identification in a lineup?

A) insist that the suspect and foils remain silent during the lineup
B) ensure that the suspect and foils differ greatly in appearance
C) present the suspect and foils sequentially
D) assure the witness that the suspect is in the lineup

Question 43

Joan has been seeing a therapist for several months. At one session, her therapist suggests that Joan's emotional difficulties may be due to sexual abuse as a child. Initially, Joan is unable to recall any such abuse. However, at a later session, she recalls an incident of abuse that she had suppressed for many years. Based on social-psychological research findings, Joan's claims should be __________.

A) viewed seriously but cautiously due to false memory syndrome concerns
B) believed wholeheartedly, without reservations
C) viewed seriously but cautiously due to social desirability concerns and transference processes
D) totally discounted

Question 44

You have just read the section on recovered memories in your text. Based on your reading, what would you say to a psychotherapist who suspects that her client has repressed memories of prior sexual abuse?

A) "By suggesting past abuse, you may actually be creating false memories."
B) "Don't take seriously any clients' claims that they have recovered a memory of past abuse."
C) "Without objective corroborating evidence, it is unethical to suggest that abuse occurred."
D) "The notion of 'repression' is as outdated as Sigmund Freud's other ideas."

Question 45

All things being equal, which of the following suspects is most likely to be falsely convicted based on lineup identifications?

A) Tim, who is in line with foils who do not resemble witnesses' descriptions
B) Alana, who is allowed to speak during the lineup procedure
C) Wesley, who has just seen the witness refuse to pick a suspect in a previous lineup
D) Eunice, who heard the police say, "Now, the suspect may not be in this lineup"

Question 46

According to the authors of your text, there are many factors that make eyewitness testimony inaccurate. One way to make the justice system fairer might be to require __________, as is the case in other countries.

A) eyewitnesses to be cross-examined
B) multiple eyewitnesses
C) eyewitnesses to provide drawings of what they saw
D) jurors to take into consideration eyewitnesses' confidence

Question 47

You are an assistant district attorney trying to decide which suspect to try for a burglary case. Each of four eyewitnesses picked a different suspect from a photo lineup. Based on research conducted by Dunning and Stern (1994), which eyewitness would you find most credible?

A) Beth, who carefully compared each of the faces against the others
B) Diana, who reported that the suspect's face just "popped out" at her
C) Edward, who has just provided a written description of the suspect
D) Larry, who took longer than the other witnesses to pick his suspect

Question 48

You've just read Social Psychology and the Law and have been summoned for jury service. Assuming that you were assigned to the jury trying a rape case, unlike most other jurors, you would be most likely to trust the testimony of a witness who __________.

A) is confident about his identification
B) "just knew" that a suspect was the culprit when she saw him in a lineup
C) carefully examined each person in a lineup before making the identification
D) took a long time making the identification

Question 49

__________ is a recollection of a traumatic past event that had previously been forgotten or repressed.

A) An autobiographical memory
B) The false memory syndrome
C) A recovered memory
D) An autobiographical fiction

Question 50

What recommendation would you give police officers to prevent false identifications during lineups?

A) show all the potential perpetrators at once
B) decrease witnesses' stress levels by only showing them mug shots
C) tell witnesses that the lineup may not include the suspect
D) use foils with a wide range of physical characteristics

Question 51

In social psychology, __________ refer(s) to recollections of a past traumatic event that are objectively false, but that people believe really occurred.

A) autobiographical memories
B) recovered memories
C) false memory syndrome
D) confabulatory memories

Question 52

When police officers perform lineups with witnesses, they should consider witnesses who are __________ and __________ to be more likely to be accurate.

A) quick; use process of elimination
B) slow; use process of elimination
C) quick; confident
D) slow; methodical

Question 53

Keep in mind experimental research on eyewitness accuracy conducted by Dunning and Stern (1994). Now, assume that you are a juror in a robbery trial. All things being equal, of which of the following eyewitnesses should you be most confident?

A) Mr. Latz, who quickly responds the robbers face just "popped out" at him in the photo lineup.
B) Mrs. Jones, who thinks long and hard about what she saw before engaging in the photo lineup.
C) Ms. Mabry, a bank teller whose view of the robber was partially blocked, but she is very confident in her identification of him.
D) Mr. Collins, a guard who took the time to compare one face to another in the photo lineup.

Question 54

Julie is confident that she has correctly identified the suspect in a robbery. What should jurors conclude about the accuracy of her identification of the suspect?

A) That she is probably very accurate.
B) That her confidence has very little to do with how accurate she is.
C) That she is probably dead wrong.
D) That it is completely irrelevant information.

Question 55

Austin is a social psychologist working for the police department. As he advises department detectives about procedures for a police lineup, what is he LEAST likely to advise?

A) "Do not always include the suspect in the initial lineup."
B) "Ask your witnesses for confidence ratings about their identifications before you say anything to them about their performance."
C) "Make sure that the lineup contains a wide variety of people who look quite different from each other."
D) "Tell the witness that the suspect may or may not be in the lineup."

Question 56

Recovered memories are defined as the process __________.

A) whereby memories of an event become distorted by information encountered after the event occurred
B) whereby people try to identify the source of their memories
C) by which people recall a past event, such as sexual abuse, that has been forgotten or repressed
D) by which people recall information stored in their memories

Question 57

Lila explains to a police officer that she identified a suspect out of a lineup by taking her time, comparing their faces, and then using the process of elimination. According to information from your text, Lila's identification __________.

A) has an 80% chance of being accurate
B) has a 50% chance of being accurate
C) has a 30% chance of being accurate
D) is probably mistaken

Question 58

With regard to recovered memories, on which point are nonscientific writers and research psychologists most likely to agree?

A) Sexual abuse is more common than many people would like to think.
B) The repression of memories is a major source of depression and eating disorders.
C) Recovered memories, in the absence of other evidence, are not sufficient to prove past abuse.
D) Many people who allegedly recover memories of abuse are making up stories.

Question 59

According to your text, why should the police officer who conducts the lineup not know which person in the lineup is the suspect?

A) They will not unintentionally "hint" at who the suspect is.
B) They will not exhibit own-race bias.
C) They will not badger the witness.
D) They will be more efficient than an officer working in-depth on the case.

Question 60

While on the witness stand at a child neglect trial, Billy was asked several leading questions by a crafty attorney. This attorney managed to get Billy to report that he had remembered seeing his mother drunk on several occasions. After the trial, Billy remained convinced that his mother was an alcoholic even though this was never true. This is an example of __________.

A) the false memory syndrome
B) a recovered memory
C) a distorted self-schema.
D) auto-suggestive memory

Question 61

You have been arrested on the charge of felonious assault and have your choice of four lawyers, each of whom has a different style of presenting a case. Based on research findings presented in the text, which lawyer would you choose to represent you?

A) Amanda, who opens her trials dramatically by calling her best witnesses first
B) Gene, who starts off slowly and reaches a climax with his best witnesses
C) Shelly, who calls witnesses in the order that best presents the story that she wants to tell
D) Hank, who calls witnesses in order based on their astrological sign

Question 62

A social psychologist would say that the story order of presenting evidence is most effective because it __________.

A) establishes a schema for the event in question
B) raises the self-esteem level of the jurors
C) overrides the prejudices of the jurors
D) unlocks repressed memories

Question 63

Based on the research by Geraerts and colleagues (2007), which of the following is most likely to have corroborating evidence about their experience of childhood sexual abuse?

A) William, who has never forgotten his abuse
B) Emily, who remembered her abuse last year during marriage counseling
C) Carla, who remembered her abuse during college
D) Sharon, who had repressed her abuse until undergoing psychoanalysis

Question 64

Despite the fact that dissenting jurors often adopt the majority point of view, unanimous verdicts are desirable because this requirement encourages jurors to consider the evidence more carefully and __________.

A) the majority may change their minds about the defendant's guilt
B) the minority prolongs productive deliberation
C) try to debunk false testimonies
D) the majority will then be more confident in their verdict

Question 65

After being interrogated, why would someone confess to a crime of which they are innocent?

A) Many suspects are poor and view prison as an easy way to get food and shelter.
B) They recovered a memory that they had repressed.
C) They become psychologically fatigued and confused.
D) They are physically coerced.

Question 66

When jurors view a video of an interrogation, they are most likely to believe the suspect was coerced if they see __________.

A) just the suspect's face
B) just the interrogator's face
C) both the interrogator's and suspect's faces
D) nothing, but heard the complete audio recording

Question 67

If a single juror disagrees with the rest, what is likely to happen during deliberations?

A) The majority will come to see that the dissenter is right.
B) The single juror will change his or her mind and vote with the majority.
C) Neither the single juror nor the majority will change their minds and the jury will be hung.
D) The majority will be persuaded by compelling logical arguments from the lone dissenter.

Question 68

Jack has just been interrogated as a suspect in a robbery for over ten hours and is psychologically fatigued and confused about what to believe. According to the authors of your text, which of the following is Jack most likely to do?

A) adamantly plead his innocence
B) refuse to speak without a lawyer present
C) become delirious and require mental hospitalization
D) confess to the crime and end the agony

Question 69

You are sitting on a jury in which you are the only one that believes that the defendant is not guilty of the charges. What is the most likely outcome of your dissent?

A) You hang the jury.
B) You cave in and go along with the charges as presented.
C) You eventually agree to vote guilty, but persuade the other jurors to think more critically about the evidence.
D) You eventually agree to vote guilty, but persuade the other jurors that more severe charges are necessary.

Question 70

The presence of a dissenting juror is desirable because they encourage other jurors to __________.

A) consider the evidence more carefully
B) discuss their original biases
C) convict on the more serious offense
D) reach a speedy and accurate verdict

Question 71

Lawyers who present their case in story order present witnesses __________.

A) to take advantage of the recency effect
B) in the order that they believe will have the greatest impact
C) who have been shown to be reliable eyewitnesses
D) who will describe the events in the order in which events unfolded

Question 72

Lawyers who present their case in witness order present witnesses __________.

A) to take advantage of the primacy effect
B) in the order they believe will have the greatest impact
C) to take advantage of the recency effect
D) who will describe the events in the order in which the events unfolded

Question 73

__________, is when lawyers present witnesses in the sequence they think will have the greatest impact, even if this means that events are described out of order.

A) Sequential evidence approach
B) Impactful evidence approach
C) Witness order
D) Storybook order

Question 74

Which of the following techniques would a lawyer employ if she were using the story order method?

A) First, call witnesses who saw the suspect enter the building; then call witnesses who talked with him after the crime occurred.
B) Save the most dramatic testimony for last.
C) Begin with the least credible witnesses and end with the most credible witnesses.
D) Interview all prospective witnesses to ensure that they tell roughly the same story.

Question 75

You are being held for questioning in a crime that you did not commit. The interrogation is going on for quite some time: what conditions would lead to any confession you make being seen as coerced?

A) making sure that only you are being videotaped
B) making sure that the interrogator is being videotaped
C) making sure the interrogator is not visible in the videotape
D) making sure that your interrogator is visible, but only if he is male

Question 76

Based on the research by Pennington and Hastie (1988) where researchers asked mock jurors to listen to a simulated murder trial and varied the order in which the prosecuting and defense attorneys presented their cases, in which of the following ways should lawyers present their case to a jury?

A) story order for the prosecution and defense lawyer
B) story order, but only for the prosecution lawyer
C) witness order for the prosecution and defense lawyer
D) witness order, but only for the defense lawyer

Question 77

A study found that judges who presided over jury trials disagreed with the jury's verdict about __________ of the time.

A) 10%
B) 25%
C) 50%
D) 75%

Question 78

Stephen is a defense attorney. He always arranges his witnesses so that he can explain his clients' actions to create sympathetic schemas in the jurors' minds. Stephen's success rate reflects the benefits of presenting evidence in __________.

A) logical order
B) story order
C) witness order
D) order of credibility

Question 79

You are a defense attorney and you are choosing jurors. In order to help your client avoid a severe charge, what sort of jury would you select?

A) twelve people who all feel exactly the same way, with very little diversity
B) equal numbers of males and females
C) It doesn't matter; the system guarantees a fair trial.
D) at least a couple of jurors who may hold a minority opinion on the case

Question 80

In jury deliberations, __________ and __________ are often used to convince dissenting jurors to adopt the majority point of view.

A) stereotypes; prejudice
B) low self-esteem; high self-esteem
C) normative conformity, informational conformity
D) one-sided messages; peripheral route processing