Birte Englich

Playing Dice With Criminal Sentences: The Influence of Irrelevant Anchors on Experts’ Judicial Decision Making:

Judicial sentencing decisions should be guided by facts, not by chance. The present research however demonstrates that the sentencing decisions of experienced legal professionals are influenced by irrelevant sentencing demands even if they are blatantly determined at random. Participating legal experts anchored their sentencing decisions on a given sentencing demand and assimilated toward it even if this demand came from an irrelevant source (Study 1), they were informed that this demand was randomly determined (Study 2), or they randomly determined this demand themselves by throwing dice (Study 3). Expertise and experience did not reduce this effect. This sentencing bias appears to be produced by a selective increase in the accessibility of arguments that are consistent with the random sentencing demand: The accessibility of incriminating arguments was higher if participants were confronted with a high rather than a low anchor (Study 4). Practical and theoretical implications of this research are discussed.

Adapting to the Euro: Evidence from bias reduction

This study examines the psychological consequences of the introduction of the Euro. People who are not used to the new currency experience higher levels of uncertainty when processing Euro prices and may consequently be more susceptible to biasing influences. We demonstrate that in Winter 2001 – immediately before the introduction of the Euro – German participants were indeed more strongly influenced by the anchoring bias – the assimilation of a numeric estimate towards a previously considered anchor value – when making price estimates in Euro than in German Mark. By Summer 2002, however, this pattern was completely reversed so that Euro estimates were less biased than Mark estimates. This suggests that people rapidly adapted to the new currency. The implications of these findings for the consequences of the introduction of the Euro are discussed. 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Geben Sie ihm doch einfach fünf Jahre

Zusammenfassung: Ausgehend von bisherigen Befunden zu Ankereffekten in der richterlichen Urteilsbildung sowie dem Modell selektiver Zuganglichkeit untersucht die vorliegende Studie, inwieweit auch parteiische Zwischenrufe im Gerichtssaal einen Einfluss auf strafrechtliche Entscheidungen haben konnen. In einem 2 × 2-faktoriellen Experiment lasen 177 RechtsreferendarInnen vollstandige und realistische Materialien zu einem Vergewaltigungsfall, bei dem ein offensichtlich parteiischer Zwischenrufer aus dem Zuschauerraum eine niedrige oder hohe Strafe forderte. Je nach Versuchsbedingung wurden die UntersuchungsteilnehmerInnen gebeten oder nicht, sich kurz mit dieser Zwischenruferforderung zu beschaftigen. Zentrale abhangige Variable war die richterliche Strafzumessung in Monaten. Die Ergebnisse belegen einen deutlichen Ankereffekt der parteiischen Zwischenruferforderung auf die richterliche Entscheidungsfindung. Notwendige Voraussetzung fur diesen Einfluss war hierbei eine Beschaftigung mit der irrelevanten Zah...

Bullseye! How Power Improves Motor Performance

Power makes people think, feel, and behave in ways that help them to maintain and increase power. Thus far, the mechanisms underlying power’s beneficial effects on goal pursuit have been investigated predominantly on a cognitive level. The present research tested whether power influences goal pursuit in an even more fundamental way, namely by improving actual behavior on motor-based tasks. Furthermore, we suggest that this effect is produced by changes in perceptual goal representation. Consistent with our assumptions, Experiment 1 found that individuals primed with high-power outperformed control participants on a golf-putting task. In Experiment 2, individuals receiving a high-power prime outperformed individuals receiving a low-power prime on a dart-throwing task. Moreover, high-power primed participants represented the focal goal (a dart board) in greater goal-relevant detail, which mediated the effect of power on motor performance. Taken together, these findings suggest that power shapes performance in more fundamental ways than previously assumed.Power makes people think, feel, and behave in ways that help them to maintain and increase power. Thus far, the mechanisms underlying power’s beneficial effects on goal pursuit have been investigat...

Psychologie des Strafverfahrens

Im Rahmen von Strafverfahren wird verhandelt, begutachtet, befragt, uberzeugt, gelogen und entschieden. Verlauf und Ausgang des Verfahrens haben unmittelbare Bedeutung fur die von den beteiligten Parteien empfundene Verfahrensgerechtigkeit. All dies sind Themen der Psychologie des Strafverfahrens: Wahrnehmung, Eindrucksbildung, Persuasion, Glaubwurdigkeits-attribution und die mentalen Prozesse, die richterlichen Entscheidungen, Urteilen und Bewertungen zu Grunde liegen, sind wichtige psychologische Themen, zu denen die sozial- und rechtspsychologische Forschung umfangreiches Wissen bereitstellt, welches allerdings in der juristischen Praxis in der Regel weniger aufgegriffen wird als beispielsweise Befunde der Forschung zur Kriminalprognose oder Schuldfahigkeitsdiagnostik.