PSC 153 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Innocence Project, Fundamental Attribution Error, Implicit Memory
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PSC 153 – Lecture 2 – False Confessions and Interrogations
Central Park Five (1989)
False confessions about beating and raping a jogger
Police officers estimate suspects confess about 68% of the time
Objective Data: 39-48% confess, 13-16% partially admit(involuntarily)
Confessions are very influential according to Justice Brennan and mock juror data
supports this
For confessions, there is a 73% conviction rate, and for Eyewitness, there is a 59%
conviction rate
Confessions
Desirable piece of evidence for prosecution
Can save time and money to avoid trial
Have the potential for coercion – likely immoral and possibly illegal
Coerced confession, in theory, should be discounted by jurors
However, clearly coerced confession has a 31% increase in conviction
Social Psychology
Priming – activation of a cognitive representation increases its accessibility and the
likelihood that it will be used
Form of implicit memory
Effects can be long-lasting
Cannot un-ring a bell – inadmissible evidence is almost impossible to ignore
Causal attributions of behavior – why do people do what they do?
Dispositional (internal) attribution
Situational (external) attribution
Fundamental Attribution Error – tendency to overestimate dispositional and
underestimate situational factors when explaining other people’s behavior
Discounting principle – when situational influence on behavior is obvious, internal
attribution is less likely
Augmenting principle – When behavior is opposite of what situation calls for, internal
attribution is more likely
Potential for coercion = potential for false confessions
Innocence Project – 344 individuals exonerated through DNA testing (Sept. 2016), false
confession was involved 25% of the time