Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Neuropsychological Malingering Determination: The Illusion Of Scientific Lie Detection, Chunlin Leonhard, Christoph Leonhard

Georgia Law Review

Humans believe that other humans lie, especially when stakes are high. Stakes can be very high in a courtroom, from substantial amounts of monetary damages in civil litigation to liberty or life in criminal cases. One of the most frequently disputed issues in U.S. courts is whether litigants are malingering when they allege physical or mental conditions for which they are seeking damages or which would allow them to avoid criminal punishment. Understandably, creating a scientific method to detect lies is very appealing to all persons engaged in lie detection. Neuropsychologists claim that they can use neuropsychological assessment tests (Malingering …

Examining The Evidence Base For Burnout, Renzo Bianchi, Irvin Schonfeld

Publications and Research

Burnout has elicited growing interest among occupational health specialists in recent decades. Since 2019, the World Health Organization has characterized burnout as a syndrome resulting from chronic, unmanageable workplace stress. Accordingly, three symptoms define the entity: (i) feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; (ii) increased mental distance from one’s job or feelings of negativism or cynicism towards one’s job; and (iii) a sense of ineffectiveness and lack of accomplishment. We call into question the definition of burnout embodied in the Maslach Burnout Inventory and incorporated into the ICD-11. We draw stakeholders’ attention to the fact that burnout’s symptoms and etiology …

Examining The Evidence Base For Burnout, Renzo Bianchi, Irvin Sam Schonfeld

Publications and Research

Burnout has elicited growing interest among occupational health specialists in recent decades. Since 2019, the World Health Organization has characterized burnout as a syndrome resulting from chronic, unmanageable workplace stress. According to the ICD-11, three symptoms define the entity: feelings of exhaustion, increased mental distance from one’s job, and a sense of ineffectiveness at work, all of which correspond to the structure of the Maslach Burnout Inventory. The ICD-11 includes burnout among the factors that influence health status. This paper calls into question that conceptualization based on a number of lines of evidence. The evidence includes the following: burnout was …

Appraising Evidence For Valence, Víctor Carranza-Pinedo

Animal Sentience

I make some remarks about whether evidence of valenced responses constitutes evidence of valenced states, and therefore of sentience, in organisms.

Law Library Blog (April 2019): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

Support For The Precautionary Principle, Jennifer Mather

Jennifer Mather, PhD

The precautionary principle gives the animal the benefit of the doubt when its sentient status is not known. This is necessary for advanced invertebrates such as cephalopods because research and evidence concerning the criteria for sentience are scattered and often insufficient to give us the background for the decision.

The Readiness Monitoring Tool: Investigating The Psychometric Evidence For Group-Level Aggregation In Two Samples, Samantha N. Hartley

Theses and Dissertations

Organizational readiness is an essential factor for successful implementation of a particular innovation. Although there is general consensus within the research literature on the importance of organizational readiness, there has been significantly less agreement on the nature of readiness as a construct and how it should be operationalized. Previous research has focused on organizational readiness for change at both the individual and organizational levels, but measures based on these theories of readiness have typically lacked evidence of reliability and validity.

The R=MC2 heuristic and its associated measure, the Readiness Monitoring Tool (RMT), offer a compelling and comprehensive approach by which …

Moving Beyond Materialism: Can Transpersonal Psychology Contribute To Cultural Transformation?, Steve Taylor

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

The issue of whether it is possible to separate science and metaphysics is discussed, with reference to William James and the writings of quantum physicists. The metaphysical framework of scientific materialism is analysed and some of its key assumptions are identified. It is suggested that these assumptions are becoming increasingly untenable, as is evident by the advocacy of post-materialist science by some contemporary scientists. The main appeal of transpersonal psychology to students and practitioners is arguably its lack of allegiance to a materialist metaphysics. Rather than allying itself to the metaphysical paradigm of naturalistic science or attempting to bracket out …

Automatically Guilty: Associations Between Evidence And Guilt, William E. Crozier Iv

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Both real-life cases and laboratory research demonstrate that confession evidence is very convincing—even when it should not be. Could this be due to an automatic association between a confession and guilt? We tested this possibility using a Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) list, which measures automatic associations by presenting participants with a list of words that are thematically related but, importantly, lack the word describing the theme (“critical lure”). When the association between the list words and the theme is sufficiently strong, participants incorrectly report seeing the critical lure. We hypothesized that participants would show more false recall for seeing “guilty” on a …

Prosecutors’ Perceptions On Questioning Children About Repeated Abuse, Kim Roberts, Martine Powell, Kimberlee S. Burrows, Sonja P. Brubacher

Psychology Faculty Publications

The purpose of the present study was to elicit guidance from prosecutors across Australia on questioning children about repeated events. Two focus groups were conducted; the first sought broad feedback concerning questioning children about repeated events. The second focused more specifically on eliciting feedback about techniques for aiding children in describing specific instances of repeated events. These techniques were derived either from empirical research, best practice interview guidelines, or both. Data from both focus groups were compiled because themes were highly similar. Thematic analysis of the focus group discussions revealed three broad themes in prosecutors’ perceptions about questioning children about …

Support For The Precautionary Principle, Jennifer Mather

Animal Sentience

The precautionary principle gives the animal the benefit of the doubt when its sentient status is not known. This is necessary for advanced invertebrates such as cephalopods because research and evidence concerning the criteria for sentience are scattered and often insufficient to give us the background for the decision.

Developing A Measure Of Scientific Literacy For Middle School Students, Helenrose Fives, Mark Nicolich, Amanda Birnbaum, Wendy Huber

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Scientific literacy reflects “a broad and functional understanding of science for general education purposes” (DeBoer, 2000, p. 594). Herein, we present the ongoing development of the Scientific Literacy Assessment (SLA), a work‐in‐progress measure to assess middle school students' (ages 11–14) scientific literacy. The SLA includes a selected response measure of students’ demonstrated scientific literacy (SLA‐D) and a motivation and beliefs scale based on existing measures of self‐efficacy, subjective task value, and personal epistemology for science (SLA‐MB). Our theoretical conceptualization of scientific literacy guided the development of our measure. We provide details from three studies: Pilot Study 1 (n = …

Witness Response Manipulation Through Strategic "Non-Leading" Questions (Or The Art Of Getting The Desired Answer By Asking The Right Question), Sydney Beckman

Sydney A. Beckman

No abstract provided.

Death And Politics: The Role Of Demographic Characteristics And Testimony Type In Death Penalty Cases Involving Future Dangerousness Testimony, Amy Magnus, Miliaikeala Heen, Joel D. Lieberman

Graduate Research Symposium (GCUA) (2010 - 2017)

Past research examining expert future dangerousness prediction testimony in death penalty cases and civil confinement hearings for sex offenders has found that jurors tend to be more persuaded by less scientific “clinical” testimony and less influenced by “actuarial” based testimony. Jurors demonstrate greater receptivity for clinical testimony despite the fact that actuarial testimony has been shown to be a better predictor of future dangerousness. Research in this area has focused on identifying cognitive factors that can potentially be manipulated during a trial to increase the effectiveness of actuarial testimony on jurors. A mock jury study was conducted to extend these …

Are People Probabilistically Challenged? Book Review Of Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast And Slow (2011), Alex Stein

Alex Stein

Daniel Kahneman’s recent book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, is a must-read for any scholar and policymaker interested in behavioral economics. Thus far, behavioral economists did predominantly experimental work that uncovered discrete manifestations of people’s bounded rationality: representativeness, availability, anchoring, overoptimism, base-rate neglect, hindsight bias, loss aversion, and other misevaluations of probability and utility. This work has developed no causal explanations for these misevaluations. Kahneman’s book takes the discipline to a different level by developing an integrated theory of bounded rationality’s causes and characteristics. This theory holds that humans use two distinct modes of reasoning, intuitive (System 1) and deliberative (System …

Predators And Propensity: The Proper Approach For Determining The Admissibility Of Prior Bad Acts Evidence In Child Sexual Abuse Prosecutions, Basyle Tchividjian

Faculty Publications and Presentations

PREDATORS AND PROPENSITY: THE PROPER APPROACH FOR DETERMINING THE ADMISSIBILITY OF PRIOR BAD ACTS EVIDENCE IN CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE PROSECUTIONS

Basyle J. Tchividjian†

Abstract

The admissibility of prior bad act evidence in child sexual abuse prosecutions oftentimes makes the difference between a guilty and not guilty verdict. Recently, jurisdictions have growingly embraced the admission of such evidence for the purpose of establishing the defendant’s propensity to sexually victimize children. Due to the potentially high prejudicial effect of admitting propensity evidence, it is more critical than ever that courts carefully apply the decisive evidentiary gatekeeper, the probative value balancing test …

Moral Character, Motive, And The Psychology Of Blame, Janice Nadler, Mary-Hunter Morris Mcdonnell

Faculty Working Papers

Blameworthiness, in the criminal law context, is conceived as the carefully calculated end product of discrete judgments about a transgressor's intentionality, causal proximity to harm, and the harm's foreseeability. Research in social psychology, on the other hand, suggests that blaming is often intuitive and automatic, driven by a natural impulsive desire to express and defend social values and expectations. The motivational processes that underlie psychological blame suggest that judgments of legal blame are influenced by factors the law does not always explicitly recognize or encourage. In this Article we focus on two highly related motivational processes – the desire to …

If The Shoe Fits They Might Acquit: The Value Of Forensic Science Testimony, Jonathan Koehler

Faculty Working Papers

The probative value of forensic science evidence (such as a shoeprint) varies widely depending on how the evidence and hypothesis of interest is characterized. This paper uses a likelihood ratio (LR) approach to identify the probative value of forensic science evidence. It argues that the "evidence" component should be characterized as a "reported match," and that the hypothesis component should be characterized as "the matching person or object is the source of the crime scene sample." This characterization of the LR forces examiners to incorporate risks from sample mix-ups and examiner error into their match statistics. But how will legal …

We Don’T Want To Hear It: Psychology, Literature And The Narrative Model Of Judging, Kenworthey Bilz

Kenworthey Bilz

The “narrative” model of legal judging argues that legal decision makers both do and should render judgments by assembling sensible sto-ries out of evidence (as opposed to using Bayesian-type, linear models). This model is usually understood to demand that before one may judge a situation, one must give the parties the opportunity to tell their story in a manner that invites, or at least allows, empathy from the judger. This Article refers to this as the “inclusionary approach” to the narrative model of judging. Using psychological research in emotions and perspective-taking and the more intuitive techniques of literary criticism, this …

Pre-Existing Attitudes About The Legal System: The Thirteenth Juror?, Larissa Angelique Schmersal

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The idealized role of the jury is that of a neutral decision maker; however, the degree to which individual verdict preferences represent jurors' pre-existing beliefs about the legal system, theories about issues important to the case at hand, and prior understanding of legal terms remains inadequately explained. The purpose of the current study was to examine the direct and indirect effects of pre-existing attitudes about the legal system upon verdict preferences. Participants were 463 undergraduate students from the University of Texas at El Paso. Consistent with the hypotheses, pre-existing attitudes about the legal system played a role in individual verdicts, …

Wrongly Accused Redux: How Race Contributes To Convicting The Innocent: The Informants Example, Andrew E. Taslitz

Andrew E. Taslitz

This article analyzes five forces that may raise the risk of convicting the innocent based upon the suspect's race: the selection, ratchet, procedural justice, bystanders, and aggressive-suspicion effects. In other words, subconscious forces press police to focus more attention on racial minorites, the ratchet makes this focus every-increasing, the resulting sense by the community of unfair treatment raises its involvment in crime while lowering its willingness to aid the police in resisting crime, innocent persons suffer when their skin color becomes associated with criminality, and the police use more aggressive techniques on racial minorities in a way that raises the …

Wrongly Accused Redux: How Race Contributes To Convicting The Innocent: The Informants Example, Andrew E. Taslitz

School of Law Faculty Publications

This article analyzes five forces that may raise the risk of convicting the innocent based upon the suspect's race: the selection, ratchet, procedural justice, bystanders, and aggressive-suspicion effects. In other words, subconscious forces press police to focus more attention on racial minorites, the ratchet makes this focus every-increasing, the resulting sense by the community of unfair treatment raises its involvment in crime while lowering its willingness to aid the police in resisting crime, innocent persons suffer when their skin color becomes associated with criminality, and the police use more aggressive techniques on racial minorities in a way that raises the …

Examination Of The Issues And Scientific Evidence For The Identification Process Of Deaf And Hard Of Hearing Individuals With Learning Disabilities To Enhance Academic Outcomes, Scot Ferre

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Although the identification of learning disabilities (LD) is a viable means to provide appropriate

instructional and support services for students with academic difficulties, there is a limited

knowledge base about the identification, assessment, and intervention of and for LD in deaf and

hard of hearing (D/HH) students. Given the potential consequences of test results, this review

examined current and recent developments in the field of learning disabilities concerning the

conceptualization of learning disability and the validity and empirical support of earlier

identification methods and various assessment identification options with D/HH students.

Challenges to the process and the need for additional …

Prosecutorial Misconduct In Death Penalty Cases: The U.S. Supreme Court Rules That The State May Not Suppress Evidence That Is Material To Guilt Or Punishment, Richard L. Wiener, Roni Reiter-Palmon

Psychology Faculty Publications

n April of 1980, police found the body of Richard Whitehead outside a small town in eastern Texas. Witnesses told police that they had seen Delma Banks in Whitehead's automobile several days earlier and had heard gunshots early in the morning shortly after the sighting. Informant Robert Farr told police that Banks was traveling back to his home in eastern Texas from Dallas, where he had visited Charles Cook, an associate of his, to secure a weapon. The sheriff stopped Banks' car and found a handgun. The sheriff then retrieved a second weapon from Mr. Cook's home and determined that …

Trends. Alternative Therapies And Resistance To Disconfirming Information In Security Bureaucracies: Perspective Of A Fourth Grader, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The author discusses the science experiment of a fourth-grader in relation to practitioners of alternative therapies and the health field.

The Risk Of Reliance On Perceived Risk, Frank B. Cross

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

Professor Cross's comment is closely related to the debate between Thompson and Valverde. Using examples that do not commonly appear in the "Risk" literature, he argues that: Giving weight to perceived Risk may seem liberal insofar as it gives more say to the "little guy," but giving perceived Risk too much weight could have distinctly illiberal social consequences.

Police Evidence And Court Outcomes For Drunk Driving Cases, Dale E. Berger

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

From police arrest records and case narratives, we collected information on the evidence reported from each of four phases of a drunk-driving arrest.