How the defendant's emotion level affects mock jurors' decisions when presentation mode and evidence strength are varied

Wendy P. Heath, Bruce D. Grannemann, Michelle A. Peacock

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

22 Scopus citations

Abstract

Two experiments (N = 443) were conducted to investigate the effects of a defendant's emotion level during testimony on mock jurors' decisions. In Experiment 1, the defendant's level of emotion (low, moderate, high) and mode of presentation (audio, video) were varied. The defendant displaying a low level, as opposed to a higher level of emotion was perceived as more guilty and less credible. In Experiment 2, using only the video mode, emotion level and evidence strength (strong, weak) were varied. Defendant emotion level tended to affect jurors' decisions only when the evidence against the defendant was weak (i.e., a stronger display of emotion was associated with a lower proportion of guilty verdicts, shorter sentence assignments, and perceptions of a more honest defendant). Path analyses for both experiments indicate that the effects of emotion on perceived guilt level are mediated by perceptions of the defendant (e.g., the defendant's level of honesty). Implications of using defendant emotion level for determining guilt are discussed.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)624-664
Number of pages41
JournalJournal of Applied Social Psychology
Volume34
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2004

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Social Psychology

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