Deck 18: Applying Social Psychology to the Law

Question 1

Which of the following is an example of a system variable that might lead to inaccuracies in eyewitness identifications in lineups?

A) The number of people chosen to appear in the lineup alongside the suspect
B) Whether the eyewitness is confident about his or her identification of the eyewitness during the lineup 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

Answer 1

A

Question 2

In general, which of the following best summarizes 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

Answer 2

D

Question 3

When jurors have been exposed to pretrial publicity, they ____.

A) are somewhat more likely to deem the defendant guilty
B) are somewhat more likely to deem the defendant innocent
C) tend to think that they are biased by this exposure, even when they are not
D) are able to disregard any information to which they have been exposed once the trial begins

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Suppose that, during jury selection for a burglary trial, the lawyer for the prosecution determines that she does not want a potential juror named Ingrid Malone on the jury. Ingrid has stated that she has been in and out of mental institutions her whole life, and that she sees nothing wrong with a little burglary now and then. Ingrid even offers up the idea that "all burglars should be free to burgle." The prosecution lawyer suggests to the judge that Ingrid is highly biased and should be removed from the jury panel. The judge agrees, and has her quickly removed. This process is known as ____.

A) venire
B) voir dire
C) challenge for cause
D) peremptory challenge

Question 5

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

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

Question 6

Of the following, which personality trait is most predictive of whether people are lenient versus punitive in jury trial voting?

A) Introversion/extroversion
B) Authoritarianism
C) Self-monitoring
D) Need for closure

Question 7

Juries for robbery trials, assault trials, and other trials all go through a process of voir dire; juries for capital cases also go through a screening called ____.

A) venire
B) death qualification
C) continuance
D) peremptory challenge

Question 8

In a target-absent lineup, 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

Question 9

Suppose that Danielle 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 Danielle'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 lineup for eyewitness identification, then the foils in the lineup ____.

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 10

In a properly conducted lineup, wherein eyewitnesses are asked to identify criminals who they saw commit a crime, the foils in the lineup 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 11

Women, the poor, and blacks are less likely than others to be represented on trials for capital cases. One big reason for this, according to the text, is that ____.

A) judges tend to be in favor of the death penalty, and therefore remove from jury panels members of these groups because they are believed to be relatively averse to the death penalty
B) trials for these cases tend to be held in counties where these groups are underrepresented
C) these groups tend to be more opposed to the death penalty than others, and thus often "opt out" of sitting on juries for these cases
D) these groups tend to be more opposed to the death penalty than others, and are thus often disqualified from sitting on juries for these cases

Question 12

Suppose that Danielle 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 Danielle'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 lineup for eyewitness identification, then the foils in the lineup ____.

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 13

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 14

System variables that influence eyewitness identifications in criminal lineups are most analogous to ____ that influence participant behavior in social psychological experiments.

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

Question 15

Suppose that, during jury selection for a criminal trial, defense lawyer Wickens decides that she does not want a potential juror named Bob Strange on the jury. He seems unpredictable to her, but potentially likely to favor the prosecution. She therefore tells the judge that she would like to have Bob removed from the jury panel (without stating her reasoning). It would appear that Bob is being removed via the process of ____.

A) venire
B) voir dire
C) challenge for cause
D) peremptory challenge

Question 16

According to the text, when police use lineup 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 17

During the jury selection process in jury trials, attorneys often rely on ____ in an effort to figure out what demographic characteristics, personality traits, lifestyle characteristics, and behaviors correlate with jury opinions and jury verdicts.

A) countertransference
B) implicit personality theories
C) attribution theory
D) groupthink

Question 18

Compared to other juries, juries that are "death qualified" tend to ____.

A) over-represent the poor.
B) over-represent women.
C) remember more of the evidence that is presented in a trial.
D) be more likely to judge defendants guilty rather than innocent.

Question 19

According to the text, the best way to eliminate biases in jury judgments resulting from pretrial exposure to trial-related information is by making use of ____.

A) continuance
B) an extended voir dire
C) change of venue
D) an extended venire

Question 20

The jury pool in the United States is known as a(n) ____.

A) venire
B) voir dire
C) implicit panel
D) challenger board

Question 21

Which of the following best summarizes current thinking on "recovered memories"?

A) This is a complicated topic, involving numerous tradeoffs, about which there are few clear answers.
B) "Recovered memories" are real, though the criminal justice system has been slow to acknowledge their legitimacy.
C) There does not appear to be any legitimacy to the notion of "recovered memories"-despite the commonality with which they allegedly occurred in the 1980's and 1990's.
D) "Recovered memories" are now widely recognized by both psychologists and the criminal justice system as being real and legitimate.

Question 22

Delaying a trial is known as a(n) ____.

A) change of venue
B) continuance
C) foil
D) blank lineup