Bail-Setting Decisions
The bail-setting decision is one of the early court decisions made in a case, and it has attracted attention from...
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Illusion of Transparency
There are times when people wish to conceal their thoughts, feelings, and emotions from others. Anxiety over approaching a potential...
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Gay Marriages
Given the recent debate over the legitimacy of same-sex marriage, a discussion on gay and lesbian matrimony is appropriate. In...
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Battered Woman Syndrome Testimony
The most common form of syndrome testimony that has been introduced in the courtroom is battered woman syndrome testimony. For...
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Illusory Correlation
An illusory correlation occurs when a person perceives a relationship between two variables that are not in fact correlated. In...
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Gateway Drug
Although the exact origin of the term gateway drug remains uncertain, the use of the term seems to have accelerated...
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Chicago Jury Project
The Chicago Jury Project was a large-scale social science research initiative in the 1950s. This research paper provides a descriptive...
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Integrative Complexity
Integrative Complexity Definition Integrative complexity deals with how people process information. Some people may view things in simple terms (e.g.,...
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What is Gender Differences?
How men and women, and girls and boys, differ from each other has been the focus of much study in...
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Children’s Testimony
Children may experience or witness crime and may need to provide reports to authorities. Children’s eyewitness accounts can contain critical...
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Law of Small Numbers
Law of Small Numbers Definition The law of small numbers refers to the incorrect belief held by experts and laypeople...
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Gender Identity
All children learn that they are either male or female, but what meaning do they give to the fact that...
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Children’s Testimony Evaluation
When children are involved in trials as witnesses, victims, or defendants, jurors must decide whether they are credible and how...
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Loss Aversion
Loss Aversion Definition Loss aversion refers to people’s tendency to prefer avoiding losses to acquiring gains of equal magnitude. In...
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Gender Role Development
Gender is one of the most central attributes people have and an object of endless interest across all societies. Thus...
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Complex Litigation
Complex litigation tends to get framed as a problem for the jury system, but it is more properly viewed as...
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Mental Accounting
Mental Accounting Definition Mental accounting is a theory that describes how people think about money. This theory suggests that people...
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Generalizability
Experiments in human development attempt to identify the influence of variables or events on human behavior. These experiments contribute to...
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Confession Evidence
Confession evidence is highly potent, and its incriminating effects are difficult to erase. This research paper describes the impact of...
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Mere Ownership Effect
Mere Ownership Effect Definition The mere ownership effect refers to an individual’s tendency to evaluate an object more favorably merely...
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Generalized Anxiety Disorder
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders characterizes generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) as a problem attributable largely to excessive...
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CSI Effect
The CSI effect refers to the belief that jurors’ expectations about forensic evidence at trial are changing due to the...
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Naive Cynicism
Naive Cynicism Definition Naive cynicism is the tendency of laypeople to expect other people’s judgments will have a motivational basis...
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Generation Gap
The concept of the generation gap is one that has become part of our cultural vernacular. Reputedly coined by renowned...
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Damage Awards
Damage awards function as a remedy for wrongdoing in civil lawsuits; they constitute money awarded to an injured party as...
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Naive Realism
Naive Realism Definition Naive realism describes people’s tendency to believe that they perceive the social world “as it is”—as objective...
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Dynamite Charge
In a majority of U.S. courts, particularly criminal courts, jury verdicts are required to be unanimous. Occasionally, however, juries are...
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Omission Neglect
Omission Neglect Definition Omission neglect refers to insensitivity to missing information of all types—including unmentioned or unknown options, alternatives, features,...
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Gerontological Society Of America
The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) was founded in 1945 to promote scientific study of aging and to encourage exchange...
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Elderly Defendants
As the average life span increases, the population of elders involved in the court system grows. Thus, there has been...
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Overconfidence
Overconfidence Definition Overconfidence refers to the phenomenon that people’s confidence in their judgments and knowledge is higher than the accuracy...
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Gerontology
From the time of conception onward, humans are constantly aging, developing, and getting older. Although not a new area of...
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Expert Psychological Testimony
Expert psychological testimony comes in many types and concerns a vast array of subjects. Psychological expertise ranges widely both in...
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Planning Fallacy
Planning Fallacy Definition The planning fallacy refers to a specific form of optimistic bias wherein people underestimate the time that...
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Arnold Gesell
Arnold Lucius Gesell was among the first psychologists to establish quantitative measures of child development, based on his extensive observations...
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Expert Psychological Testimony Forms
Expert psychological testimony comes to court in a variety of forms and, in particular, at a couple of levels of generality....
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Pluralistic Ignorance
Pluralistic Ignorance Definition Pluralistic ignorance occurs when people erroneously infer that they feel differently from their peers, even though they...
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Giftedness
Giftedness can be conceived as unusually high ability or potential in any domain. Views of giftedness are culturally shaped, and...
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Expert Testimony Admissibility Standards
Expert psychological testimony, like any testimony, must meet certain criteria or standards for admissibility before it is allowed into court....
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Preference Reversals
Preference Reversals Definition Preference reversals refer to the observation that there are systematic changes in people’s preference order between options....
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Carol Gilligan
Born in New York City, Carol Gilligan is a full professor at New York University in the School of Law...
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Expert Testimony on Identification
Psychologists occasionally testify about the factors that influence eyewitness identification accuracy in criminal cases in which eyewitness identification is a...
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Prisoner’s Dilemma
Prisoner’s Dilemma Definition Beyond any doubt, Prisoner’s Dilemma is the best-known situation in which self-interest and collective interest are at...
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Gilligan’s Theory Of Feminine Morality
Carol Gilligan was born on November 28, 1936, in New York City. She graduated from Swarthmore College in 1958, majoring...
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Public Goods Dilemma
Public Goods Dilemma Definition Public goods dilemma refers to a real-world decision whereby the outcome for any individual depends on...
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Glass Ceiling
The term glass ceiling was introduced in the 1980s to refer to an informal but effective limit on how high...
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Recency Effect
Recency Effect Definition The recency effect is an order of presentation effect that occurs when more recent information is better...
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Grade Retention
Grade retention, also recognized as “being retained,” “being held back,” “nonpromotion,” and “flunking,” refers to the practice of requiring a...
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Representativeness Heuristic
Representativeness Heuristic Definition According to some social psychologists, human beings have the tendency to be cognitive misers—that is, to limit...
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