Stephen J. Ross

Perceiving artificial social agents

Abstract Three experiments were conducted to examine perceptions of a natural language computer interface (conversation bot). Participants in each study chatted with a conversation bot and then indicated their perceptions of the bot on various dimensions. Although participants were informed that they were interacting with a computer program, participants clearly viewed the program as having human-like qualities. Participants agreed substantially in their perceptions of the bot’s personality on the traits from the five-factor model (Experiment 1). In addition, factors that influence perceptions of human personalities (e.g., whether one uses another’s first name and response latency) also affected perceptions of a bot’s personality (Experiments 2 and 3). Similar to interactions with humans, the bot’s perceived neuroticism was inversely related to how long individuals chatted with it.

The need for expert psychological testimony on eyewitness identification

Eyewitness testimony is highly compelling in a criminal trial, and can have an indelible impact on jurors. However, two decades of research on the subject have shown us that eyewitnesses are sometimes wrong, even when they are highly confident that they are making correct identifications. This book brings together an impressive group of researchers and practicing attorneys to provide current overviews and critiques of key topics in eyewitness testimony.

Comparing legal attitudes of Anglo- and Latino-Americans: Confirming the factor structure of the Legal Attitudes Questionnaire

ABSTRACT The Legal Attitudes Questionnaire (LAQ) is a commonly used measure of juror bias; however, the factor structure of the English-language version of this measure has yet to be confirmed. This research compared the model fit of three competing models of the English-language LAQ within 504 Anglo-American and 290 Latino-American students. Results indicated that the Couch and Sundre (2001) three-factor structure provided the best fit to the LAQ. Latent mean differences indicated that Latino-Americans endorsed more authoritarian attitudes and more negative views of the police than Anglo-Americans. Interpretation of these findings and implications for future use are discussed.