Year

2001

Paper Type

Master's Thesis

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Degree Name

Master of Arts in General Psychology (MAGP)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Dr. Linda A. Foley

Abstract

The current research examined whether mock jurors make differential assessments of guilt of defendants based on inclusion or exclusion of confession evidence and type of coercion to determine if jurors' behavioral reactions to confession evidence could be predicted. Hypotheses addressed effects of various factors on jurors' decisions of verdicts regarding defendants' guilt or innocence and their certainty of these verdicts: inclusion of confession evidence, type of coercion used in obtaining confessions, admissible or inadmissible presentation of confession evidence, and influence of potential predictor variables. Predictor variables assessed included participants' Belief in a Just World, Spheres of Control, New Authoritarianism, and Belief in False Confession Evidence. No main effects were found for participants' first or second verdicts or certainty assessments.

Included in

Psychology Commons

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