Biomedical subjects

Brian H Bornstein

Publications and source records attributed to Brian H Bornstein.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Mugshot exposure effects: Retroactive interference, mugshot commitment, source confusion, and unconscious transference.

More than 25 years of research has accumulated concerning the possible biasing effects of mugshot exposure to eyewitnesses. Two separate metaanalyses were conducted on 32 independent tests of the hypothesis that prior mugshot exposure decreases witness accuracy at a subsequent lineup. Mugshot exposure both significantly decreased proportion correct and increased the false alarm rate, the effect being greater on false alarms. A mugshot commitment effect, arising from the identification of someone in a mugshot, was a substantial moderator of both these effects. Simple retroactive interference, where the target person is not included among mugshots and no one in a mugshot is present in the subsequent lineup, did not significantly impair target identification. A third metaanalysis was conducted on 19 independent tests of the hypothesis that failure of memory for facial source or context results in transference errors. The effect size was more than twice as large for "transference" studies involving mugshot exposure in proximate temporal context with the target than for "bystander" studies with no subsequent mugshot exposure.

Confusion↗

PubMed2006

Emotion and the law: a framework for inquiry.

This paper draws on research in social and cognitive psychology to show how theories of judgment and decision making that incorporate decision makers' affective responses apply to legal contexts. It takes 2 widely used models of decision making, the rational actor and lens models, and illustrates their utility for understanding legal judgments by using them to interpret research findings on juror decision making, people's obedience to the law (e.g., paying taxes), and eyewitness memory. The paper concludes with a discussion of the advantages of modifying existing approaches to information processing to include the influence of affect on how legal actors reach judgments about law and legal process.

Crime↗

PubMed2006

Decision-making about volitional impairment in sexually violent predators.

The Kansas v. Hendricks (1997) decision, in which the Supreme Court authorized post-sentence civil commitment for certain sex offenders, appeared to be constitutionally legitimized by limiting the class of offenders eligible for this special form of civil commitment to those who are "unable to control" their dangerousness. Nowhere in the available record, however, did the Court elucidate what they meant by this notion of volitional impairment. This study sought to examine factors that legal professionals (n=43), psychologists (n=40), and mock jurors (n=76) deem most relevant to a determination of sex offender volitional impairment. Participants, who were randomly assigned to a sexual predator commitment or an insanity hearing context, read a series of 16 vignettes that described a pedophilic offender and included combinations of variables hypothesized to be related to judgments of volitional impairment. Results suggested that participants, who as a group made remarkably high estimates of likelihood of future sexual violence, considered verbalization of control, history of sexual violence, and the context of the hearing as highly relevant to determinations of volitional impairment. Implications for policy and practice are explored.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

The use of religion in death penalty sentencing trials.

Both prosecutors and defense attorneys have presented religious appeals and testimony about a defendant's religious activities in order to influence capital jurors' sentencing. Courts that have objected to this use of religion fear that religion will improperly influence jurors' decisions and interfere with their ability to weigh aggravators and mitigators. This study investigated the effects of both prosecution and defense appeals. Prosecution appeals did not affect verdict decisions; however, use of religion by the defense affected both verdicts and the weighing of aggravators and mitigators. These results could be due to differences in perceived sincerity and remorse that are conveyed in the various appeals.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Juror reactions to jury duty: perceptions of the system and potential stressors.

Jurors were surveyed on their general perceptions of the court system and factors that may cause stress immediately after trial, after participating in a post-trial debriefing, and a month after trial. Jurors had an overall positive view of the court system but did report some perceived inequities. The two most stressful elements of jury duty were related to the complexity of the trial and the decision-making involved in the trial, although jurors reported low levels of stress overall. Women reported more stress than men, and trial characteristics such as trial length also affected stress levels. The debriefing intervention was perceived as helpful, but jurors' stress levels were similar at pre- and post-debriefing. Finally, although stress on some measures was lower at the 1 month follow-up, this reduction was not moderated by whether or not jurors received the debriefing.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2004

A meta-analytic review of the effects of high stress on eyewitness memory.

In the past 30 years researchers have examined the impact of heightened stress on the fidelity of eyewitness memory. Meta-analyses were conducted on 27 independent tests of the effects of heightened stress on eyewitness identification of the perpetrator or target person and separately on 36 tests of eyewitness recall of details associated with the crime. There was considerable support for the hypothesis that high levels of stress negatively impact both types of eyewitness memory. Meta-analytic Z-scores, whether unweighted or weighted by sample size, ranged from -5.40 to -6.44 (high stress condition-low stress condition). The overall effect sizes were -.31 for both proportion of correct identifications and accuracy of eyewitness recall. Effect sizes were notably larger for target-present than for target-absent lineups, for eyewitness identification studies than for face recognition studies and for eyewitness studies employing a staged crime than for eyewitness studies employing other means to induce stress.

Child↗

PubMed2004

Extending the revelation effect to faces: haven't we met before?

The revelation effect is an episodic memory phenomenon where participants are more likely to report that they recognise an item when it is judged after an interpolated task than when it is not. Although this effect is very robust, nearly all of the extant research has used verbal or readily verbalisable stimuli. The present two experiments examined whether a revelation effect could be produced with non-verbal stimuli such as faces. A revelation effect was found in both experiments, for both targets and lures, using faces as stimuli. The findings are integrated into the prevailing empirical frameworks for the revelation effect and face recognition memory.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

Measuring damages for lost enjoyment of life: the view from the bench and the jury box.

Civil jury instructions are inconsistent in defining what constitutes noneconomic damages, which may include pain, suffering, disability, disfigurement, and loss of enjoyment of life (LEL), among other injury sequelae. This inconsistency has been manifested recently in court decisions that have considered whether LEL should be treated as a separate element of noneconomic damages, distinct from pain and suffering. This paper reviews the case law on this issue and also describes a jury simulation experiment. Mock jurors awarded damages after they received instructions on noneconomic damages in which LEL was (1) not identified as a distinct element of damages; (2) defined as an element of damages distinct from pain and suffering, but participants awarded a single amount for noneconomic damages; or (3) defined as a distinct element of damages, and participants awarded separate amounts for LEL and pain and suffering. Instructions about LEL resulted in larger awards, but only when mock jurors also made a separate award for that element of damages.

Accidents, Traffic↗

PubMed2003

Juror sensitivity to the cross-race effect.

Black and White mock jurors' sensitivity to the cross-race effect was investigated by varying the race of the eyewitness in a simulated murder trial of a Black defendant. Participants heard an audiotape of a trial after which they rendered a verdict and rated the credibility of the witnesses. White participants found the prosecution witnesses (including the eyewitness) more credible, and the defense witness less credible, than did Black participants; they were also more likely to find the defendant guilty. The Black eyewitness was perceived as more credible than was the White eyewitness, but eyewitness race had no effect on verdict. These results are consistent with the literature indicating that jurors of different races reach different verdicts, and also that jurors are relatively insensitive to factors that affect eyewitness testimony, such as the cross-race effect.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Pregnancy, drug testing, and the fourth amendment: legal and behavioral implications.

In its efforts to protect the health of unborn children, the government is increasingly attempting to regulate pregnant women's conduct. As with other policies affecting pregnant women's autonomy, these policies have constitutional overtones. In Ferguson v. City of Charleston (2001), the Supreme Court struck down a South Carolina hospital's policy of testing pregnant women for cocaine and turning positive results over to law enforcement for prosecution. This article discusses the basis of the decision and its legal and behavioral implications. Although the decision came down on the side of pregnant women's rights, it left unresolved the issue of whether a similar policy could be constructed that would pass constitutional muster. The article concludes with a consideration of the likely effects of, and alternatives to, such a policy.

Child↗

PubMed2003

Barriers to physicians' decisions to discuss hospice: insights gained from the United States hospice model.

Due to its comprehensive and cost-saving design, hospice has become a critical component of health care. Physicians have become the primary gatekeepers to information on hospice and sources of referral to hospice. However, many physicians do not discuss hospice options until late in the disease course, when patients and their families are no longer able to benefit from hospice services. Although physicians, as well as patients and hospice personnel, cite patient and hospice structure factors as barriers, the present article will focus on barriers physicians have more control over, such as their discomfort discussing terminality and fear of losing contact with patients. Focusing on the American hospice model, the present article will review past findings, examine gaps in the research, and propose systematic ways to discern whether the factors physicians claim are barriers actually affect their decision making about hospice referral.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

PubMed2003

Web-based research: methodological variables' effects on dropout and sample characteristics.

Previous research has made a beginning in addressing the importance of methodological differences in Web-based research. The present paper presents four studies investigating whether sample type, financial incentives, time when personal information is requested, table design, and method of obtaining informed consent influence dropout and sample characteristics (both demographics and measured attitudes). Undergraduates were less likely to drop out than nonstudents, and nonstudents offered a financial incentive were less likely to drop out than those offered no incentive. Complex tables, tables that were too wide, requests for personal information on the first page, and the imposing of additional informed consent procedures each provoked early dropout. As was expected, nonstudents and those presented with complex tables showed more measurement error and attitude differences. Asking for personal information and imposing additional consent procedures affected the demographic makeup, raising challenges to external validity.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

The effects of defendant remorse on mock juror decisions in a malpractice case.

The purpose of this study was to observe the effects of defendant remorse on monetary damages awarded to a plaintiff in a malpractice case. In two experiments, the physician-defendant expressed remorse at the time of the incident and again at trial, expressed remorse at trial, explicitly demonstrated a lack of remorse at trial, or made no mention of remorse (or a lack thereof). Participants decided how much money to award to the plaintiff and evaluated both the plaintiff and the defendant on several dimensions. Participants awarded greater compensation when the physician expressed remorse at the time of the incident than in the other conditions, both when the plaintiff was the injured patient's spouse in a wrongful death suit (experiment 1) and when the patient sued on his own behalf (experiment 2). This effect of remorse was greater for males than for females (experiment 1) and for relatively severely injured plaintiffs (experiment 2).

Attitude↗

PubMed2002

Pretrial publicity and civil cases: a two-way street?

Published pretrial publicity (PTP) research has been conducted almost exclusively with criminal cases and has focused on PTP that is detrimental to the defense. The current research examined the effects of PTP in a civil case to determine if PTP can have a biasing effect against either the defendant or the plaintiff in civil litigation. In Experiment 1, participants exposed to PTP biased against the defendant were more likely to reach a liable verdict than participants who read a control article or PTP biased against the plaintiff Experiment 2 demonstrated that a judicial admonition did not reduce the biasing effect of PTP about a civil defendant. However, participants given the admonition both before and after the trial evidence viewed the defendant as less culpable than participants given the admonition after the trial only or not at all. The implications for the legal system are discussed.

Adult↗