Leslie L. Downing

Differential effects of jury size on verdicts following deliberation as a function of the apparent guilt of a defendant

The United States Supreme Court ruled in the case of Williams vs Florida (1970) that a Florida statute providing for 6-member juries was constitutional. Allowing the relevance of empirical studies concerning differential effects of jury size, the Court concluded that existing evidence was insufficient to demonstrate that the verdicts of 6-member juries would be different from those of 12-member juries or would operate to the disadvantage of a defendant. Given the paucity of relevant data supportive of such differences, the Court decided in favor of allowing the smaller juries. The present study was designed to determine experimentally whether the 6-member jury was more or less advantageous to the defendant than a 12-member jury at each of 2 levels of apparent guilt of the defendant. Ss were 360 undergraduates. Consistent with predictions based upon logical considerations and upon small group research, jury size had no effect upon conviction when apparent guilt was low (only 2 out of 10 juries of each size reached a guilty verdict), but when apparent guilt was high, 6-member juries were substantially more likely to convict (9 out of 10) than were 12-member juries (2 out of 10; (p < .001). (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)

In-Group/Out-Group Bias as a Function of Differential Contact and Authoritarian Personality

Abstract The subjects, volunteers of both sexes who signed up for intermediate-level ski lessons at a large New England ski resort, were randomly assigned to a blue or a green subgroup after having filled out a shortened version of the California F (Fascism) scale (Adorno, Frenkel-Brunswik, Levinson, & Sanford, 1950). Each of 18 sessions was randomly assigned to one of three in-group/out-group conditions: anticipated, moderate, or maximum differential contact. Following these sessions, each subject rated the performance of the other subjects, both blue and green, who participated in that session. Low authoritarians demonstrated no in-group/out-group rating bias in any condition. High authoritarians enhanced the in-group and disparaged the out-group relative to low authoritarians, showing an in-group/out-group bias in all three conditions that increased as a function of differential contact.

Effects of Contingencies on Cooperative Responding in a Prisoner's Dilemma Game with Anticipated Shock Outcomes

Based on an outcome maximization hypothesis, subjects were predicted to respond optimally in a prisoners dilemma game with anticipated shock outcomes. As expected, cooperation was significantly higher for 100% lag-one contingent matching feedback conditions than for noncontingent yoked-control conditions; also, cooperation increased over trials for contingent subjects, and decreased over trials for noncontingent subjects. Man versus machine characterization of the player did not affect cooperative responding, lending more support in this situation to outcome maximization as opposed to competitive motivation and perceived reactivity of the other player interpretations.

ATTRIBUTION OF ABILITY AS A FUNCTION OF CONSISTENCY OF INFORMATION ACROSS TIMES, TASKS, AND PERSONS: A BIAS TOWARD FAVORABLE ATTRIBUTIONS

A test was conducted of hypotheses from Kelleys 1967 attribution theory. Stories were generated which conveyed information concerning the success or failure of a stimulus person at Time 1/Task 1, at Time 1/Task 2, at Time 2/Task 1, and the success or failure of another person at Time 1/Task 1. Each of 160 subjects made attributions of ability for each condition in this 2×2×2×2 design. Main effects on attribution of ability occurred for all four variables and were generally supportive of the theory. Numerous two-way interactions, not predicted by the theory, suggested a bias toward favorable attributions. This bias resulted from a tendency to make attributions of high ability given inconsistent information and a reluctance to make negative attributions of ability unless multiple sources of negative information about the stimulus persons ability were in evidence. The positivity bias was not mediated by difficulty of the stimulus persons task but seemed to be a general predisposition to attribute positive ability and reluctance to attribute negative ability.

Six versus Twelve Member Juries: An Experimental Test of the Supreme Court Assumption of Functional Equivalence

ments of the United States Constitution. While only fifteen percent of all criminal prosecutions result in a jury trial, the adversary system used in this country is considered to be the cornerstone of the American system of legal justice. In spite of the high esteem in which this system is placed, until recently there has been relatively little empirical research into the ongoing processes which accampany the trial by jury. Studies by Strodbeck have coneentratt on the effects of such variables as social status, educational level, sex, and occupation as they affect the amount of participation in mock jury deliberations. The University of Chicago Jury Project (Kalven & Zeisel, 1966), investigated verdict differences between judge and jury, the ~ury’s ability to understand a judge’s instructions, how juries are selected, and variablet