Are jurors persuaded by the "concreteness of truth?" : the impact of eyewitness concreteness, juror instructions, and visualization on juror decision making.

I investigated the impact of eyewitness use of linguistic concreteness on juror decision making. Mock jurors read a summary of an ambiguous criminal case that included a concrete or abstract version of an eyewitness's testimony. When jurors received only these materials (Experiment 1), those who received the concrete testimony were more likely to render guilty verdicts and found the eyewitness more credible. However, concreteness had no effect when jurors received an additional document (Experiment 2), although juror instructions did induce skepticism of the eyewitness and the case in general. Neither concreteness nor juror visualization of the case directly influenced jurors' decisions (Experiment 3), but those jurors who received the concrete testimony while visualizing perceived the eyewitness to be more accurate over time. Overall, these results do not suggest a consistent effect of concreteness on juror decision making. Future research should consider utilizing more robust methods to manipulate concreteness.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Grantor

Baylor University.

Year dc:date.issued

2016

Author dc:creator

• Kurinec, Courtney A., 1988-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Weaver, Chuck A. (Charles A.), III.

• Juror decision making.
• Linguistic concreteness.

Statement dc:rights

• Baylor University works are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. Contact libraryquestions@baylor.edu for inquiries about permission.

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/2104/9843

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:baylor-ir.tdl.org:2104/9843