Legal and Criminological Psychology最新文献

{"title":"The weight of evidence regarding the nature of traumatic memories: A comment on Mazzoni et al.","authors":"Ivan Mangiulli, Marko Jelicic, Mark L. Howe, Lawrence Patihis, Olivier Dodier, Rafaële Huntjens, Elisa Krackow, Steven Jay Lynn, Henry Otgaar","doi":"10.1111/lcrp.1_12273","DOIUrl":"10.1111/lcrp.1_12273","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The ongoing debate about the nature of traumatic memories has engaged numerous scholars, each providing evidence either for or against special properties that distinguish such memories from other emotional memories. Mazzoni et al. (<span>2025</span>) offered a balanced and comprehensive perspective concerning the topic of traumatic memories. On the one hand, they pointed out that numerous clinical observations, and supposedly the results of some neurobiological studies, have shown that traumatic memories often lack verbal content and are accompanied by intense bodily sensations, making them special in this regard (Brewin, <span>2016</span>; Solms, <span>2018</span>; Van der Kolk, <span>1998</span>). These observations have led to interpretations of these findings as representing dissociative amnesia or repressed memories. On the other hand, researchers (McNally, <span>2007</span>; Merckelbach & Patihis, <span>2018</span>) have contended that scientific data do not consistently support the special nature of traumatic memories or the frequent occurrence of amnesia for a given event (Mangiulli et al., <span>2022</span>; McNally, <span>2003</span>; Otgaar et al., <span>2019</span>). Instead, the lack of clear evidence supporting dissociation from (or repression of) traumatic memories contrasts with substantial data suggesting that negative and stressful experiences enhance, rather than impair, memory (Shields et al., <span>2017</span>). Even if differences in characteristics exist between traumatic and non-traumatic memories, it does not necessarily implicate dissociation or repression as a cause or consequence.</p><p>Overall, there is much to appreciate in Mazzoni et al. (<span>2025</span>). Their paper took a middle ground in the debate, considering evidence from opposing perspectives, and assessing merits and flaws in relation to both sides. Yet even with this open-minded approach, it is crucial to stress that not all evidence carries equal weight. For instance, a primary source of evidence for which traumatic memories are deemed so special is derived from neuro-related data. This body of research substantiates that traumatic memories may possess specific neurobiological and neuropsychological underpinnings, suggesting qualitative distinctions in the encoding, consolidation and retrieval processes compared with other memories (e.g. ordinary experiences), thereby entailing special mechanisms distinct from general memory function (but see Rubin et al., <span>2008</span>). As Mazzoni et al. (<span>2025</span>) rightly observed—which we expand here—a common mistake in this context involves inferring the involvement of a specific cognitive process, such as memory loss for traumatic events, from the activation of a particular area in the brain. This form of reverse inference, however, lacks deductive validity, embodying the logical fallacy of affirming the consequent. In cognitive neuroscience, it is well established that the presence of specific","PeriodicalId":18022,"journal":{"name":"Legal and Criminological Psychology","volume":"30 S1","pages":"103-105"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/lcrp.1_12273","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143836395","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Can highly arousing traumatic Experiences be repressed?","authors":"Israel Nachson","doi":"10.1111/lcrp.3_12273","DOIUrl":"10.1111/lcrp.3_12273","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Reading Mazzoni et al.'s paper, I was glad to find out that their and my own paper (Nachson, <span>2025</span>) are in agreement with each other in terms of both, the issues involved in the concepts of repression and of recovered memory, and their solutions. Although our conceptual perspectives differ from each other—as evident by the differential bibliography lists—the similarity between our analyses is indeed striking, so as to render them complementary.</p><p>We similarly delineate the difficulties involved in the very definition of the concept of repression which is not operationally defined, and hence cannot be scientifically validated. Thus, while ‘soft-minded’ clinicians find the concept useful for treating clients who have allegedly recovered memories of childhood sexual abuses, ‘hard-minded’ researchers find it misleading.</p><p>The latter also shy away from the notion that a given behaviour may be considered an exception to a rule. Therefore, the special properties assigned to memories of traumatic events (such as resistance to distortion over time) cannot be entertained without solid evidence, and indeed, cognitive scientists tend to reject the notion of a special nature of traumatic memories.</p><p>The insistence on a special nature reminds one of other failing attempts to postulate an explanation of a given behaviour in terms of exceptional processes; for example, the original, ‘frustration-aggression hypothesis’ (Dollard et al., <span>1939</span>), which was based on the notion that, unlike other behavioural responses which are learned, aggression is exceptionally caused by a single factor, namely frustration.</p><p>Mazzoni et al. make it clear that evidence showing that memory of traumatic experiences is less accessible and less retrievable than that of non-traumatic experiences does not prove that it is repressed, and in-fact, it might even be enhanced rather than impaired. The studies showing detrimental effects of trauma on memory in animals, and those performed on intentional suppression, do not constitute, according to the authors, evidence for repression in humans.</p><p>The authors' conclusion that each of the two opposing opinions regarding recovered memories entails a partial truth reminds one of the American Psychological Association's decision to accept both of them as valid (Howard & Tuffin, <span>2002</span>), and of my discussion on multiple truths (Nachson, <span>2025</span>).</p><p>As a solution of the on-going debate regarding recovered memories, the authors suggest a ‘middle ground hypothesis’, according to which only traumatic memories of highly arousing, negative experiences might be repressed. However, this suggestion begs the question, since the debate focuses on memories of sexual abuses which are clearly ‘highly arousing, negative experiences’; so we are back on square one.</p><p>Finally, I wholeheartedly agree with the authors that further research on recovery of memory is called for, and that the cl","PeriodicalId":18022,"journal":{"name":"Legal and Criminological Psychology","volume":"30 S1","pages":"107-108"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/lcrp.3_12273","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143836416","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Are traumatic memories at first extraordinarily bad and then extraordinarily good?","authors":"Lawrence Patihis, Kevin Felstead","doi":"10.1111/lcrp.4_12273","DOIUrl":"10.1111/lcrp.4_12273","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Mazzoni et al. (<span>2025</span>) seek to reach a middle ground in which they cite research purporting that traumatic memory can be special, yet noting the conceptual creep of the concept of trauma, and by suggesting an openness to further research. Mazzoni et al. point out that negative events might enhance memory sometimes (e.g. Berntsen & Rubin, <span>2014</span>), and might impair memory sometimes (e.g. Roth et al., 2011). We concur that on the one hand a shocking event is likely to be consolidated more strongly than neutral events, and that chronic and prolonged stress can damage the functioning of the hippocampus and impair memory. This is a decent middle ground. We suppose that in these narrow senses traumatic memory can be special. This is nuanced as noted in Mazzoni et al.—for example traumatic memories are sometimes both strongly consolidated but still inaccurate over time.</p><p>Nevertheless, we add the caveat that by ‘special’ we do not mean dissociated or repressed, we just mean sometimes enhanced by epinephrine or sometimes impaired by stress. Notice that in the controversial concept of dissociative amnesia, the ‘special’ status is making a much bolder claim. It is proposed that there is a period of extraordinarily poor memory (zero in fact), followed by extraordinarily good memory. So good, in fact, that the memories arising out of dissociative amnesia might be so trustworthy to be used in legal cases (of course, we disagree, but this is the claim). It is this combination of terrible memory followed by extraordinary memory, caused by psychogenic mechanisms, that we object to.</p><p>There is one concern that if we do not get the terminology exactly correct about DNA methylation studies, that inexactness may spread through the pseudoscientific world of therapies that justify attempting to recover traumatic memories. Mazzoni et al. state that ‘chronic psychosocial stress changes the DNA of a gene in the hippocampus’, and that seems wrong. DNA methylation can suppress gene transcription but it does not change the DNA or the individual genes (see Moore et al., <span>2013</span>). In effect, the stress in these experiments seem to be affecting the transcription of proteins that the genes would otherwise produce without the stress. Proteins produced by genes in hippocampal neurons (and in connected networks) are needed in both long-term potentiation (see Patihis, <span>2018</span>) and in dendrite growth (Del Blanco et al., <span>2019</span>), so it makes sense that chronic stress that blocks transcription would impair memory formation.</p><p>Mazzoni et al. (<span>2025</span>) informs us not only of the terrible Bibbiano scandal in Italy—in which many lives were changed by false memories produced by the therapists—but also that the problems may not be over. If it is true that a large majority of clinicians have received education in the Bessel van der Kolk approach, there may be many false accusations in the future in Italy. Van d","PeriodicalId":18022,"journal":{"name":"Legal and Criminological Psychology","volume":"30 S1","pages":"109-110"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/lcrp.4_12273","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143836417","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Taking the middle stance in the debate on the nature of traumatic memories","authors":"Giuliana Mazzoni,&nbsp;Gianmarco Convertino,&nbsp;Michela Marchetti,&nbsp;Danilo Mitaritonna,&nbsp;Mara Stockner,&nbsp;Jessica Talbot","doi":"10.1111/lcrp.12273","DOIUrl":"10.1111/lcrp.12273","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Purpose</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The discussion on the degree of similarity and continuity between more neutral memories and genuine traumatic memories lies at the core of the (at times too heated) debate on the possibility of having declarative memories for traumatic personal experiences. In this paper, we aim at taking a middle ground in the debate, by examining, albeit very briefly, clinical, neurological and behavioural data from a hopefully more objective point of view.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Method</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>In discussing traumatic memories, the first necessary step is to clarify the concept of trauma, its use and the consequences of the definition in applied areas such as the legal arena. It is not meaningful to talk about traumatic memories if trauma is defined too loosely and refers to any type of negative experience. Second, we provide a very brief overview of data deriving from both sides of the debate.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The brief review suggests that the definition of trauma has been the object of a ‘conceptual bracket creep’, extending to events and behaviours that should not be considered trauma. This has consequences on the definition of what a traumatic memory is, hindering a productive discussion on the topic. Data from clinical observations, which strongly speak in favour of the special nature of traumatic memories, unfortunately suffer from such conceptual looseness, while neurobiological studies have adopted a more strict conceptualisation of trauma, but mainly in animal models. These studies converge in indicating that neurobiological processes involved in traumatic compared with non-traumatic memories are different, but the effect of trauma can be both of impairing and enhancing declarative memory. Behavioural studies which oppose the special nature of traumatic memories are rigorous, but such studies lack exposure to genuine traumatic experiences.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Conclusion</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Only by taking a more dispassionate middle ground, it becomes possible to evaluate merits, flaws and the validity of results. We suggest that the nature of traumatic memories will be better understood by accepting solid data indicating that encoding and consolidation are different in case of very strong emotionally negative events (leading at times to memory impairment, but also often to memory improvement) and by integrating these data with equally solid behavioural data. Overall, traumatic memories can be special. Research should help define specific conditions for special processes to be involve","PeriodicalId":18022,"journal":{"name":"Legal and Criminological Psychology","volume":"30 S1","pages":"89-102"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/lcrp.12273","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143836415","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Does cognitive inflexibility predict violent extremist behaviour intentions? A registered direct replication report of Zmigrod et al., 2019","authors":"","doi":"10.1111/lcrp.12245","DOIUrl":"10.1111/lcrp.12245","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The article listed below, intended for publication in the Special Issue ‘Direct Replications in Legal and Criminological Psychology’ was inadvertently published in a regular issue, volume 27, issue 2. This was due to a production error by the publisher and is not attributable to the authors or guest editors. This article should be cited as shown below.</p><p>Schumann, S., Salman, N. L., Clemmow, C., Gill, P. (2022). Does cognitive inflexibility predict violent extremist behaviour intentions? A registered direct replication report of Zmigrod et al., 2019. <i>Legal and Criminal Psychology</i>, <b>27</b>, 329–353. https://doi.org/10.1111/lcrp.12201</p><p>We apologize for this error.</p>","PeriodicalId":18022,"journal":{"name":"Legal and Criminological Psychology","volume":"30 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/lcrp.12245","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136000275","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Does blatantly contradictory information reduce the misinformation effect? A Registered Report replication of Loftus (1979)","authors":"Rachel O'Donnell,&nbsp;Jason C. K. Chan","doi":"10.1111/lcrp.12242","DOIUrl":"10.1111/lcrp.12242","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Purpose</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Loftus (1979, <i>Reactions to blatantly contradictory information</i>) demonstrated that participants who received a piece of blatantly contradictory information were not susceptible to it (the boundary condition effect). In addition, participants who had received the blatant misinformation were also less susceptible to the more subtle pieces of misinformation compared to the participants who did not receive the blatant misinformation (the inoculation effect). Researchers often cited this finding as evidence for the idea that detecting a piece of blatant misinformation is similar to being given a warning. However, to our knowledge, the inoculation effect has not been replicated.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Experiment 1 was a direct replication. Participants either encountered four pieces of nonblatant misinformation (subtle condition) or the same four pieces of nonblatant misinformation and an additional piece of blatant misinformation (blatant condition). Experiment 2 was a conceptual replication in which we also manipulated the presence or absence of initial testing. Furthermore, we presented the slides as a video and presented four neutral and four misleading details in the narrative.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>In two high-powered experiments, we failed to replicate both the inoculation effect and the boundary condition effect. Using a multi-verse analysis approach, we failed to observe a significant advantage from the inclusion of a piece of blatant misinformation in most (but not all) analyses.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Conclusion</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>We conclude that encountering a piece of blatant misinformation was not sufficient to inoculate witnesses against other nonblatant pieces of misinformation. We further discuss our results in the context of misinformation, warning, and discrepancy detection.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":18022,"journal":{"name":"Legal and Criminological Psychology","volume":"30 1","pages":"3-26"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/lcrp.12242","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47618859","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Correction to “Susceptibility to violent extremism and cognitive rigidity: Registered replication, corroboration and open questions for criminological research and practice” Zmigrod, L. (2022). Susceptibility to violent extremism and cognitive rigidity: Registered replication, corroboration and open questions for criminological research and practice. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 27, 170–176. https://doi.org/10.1111/lcrp.12225","authors":"","doi":"10.1111/lcrp.12304","DOIUrl":"10.1111/lcrp.12304","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The article listed above, intended for publication in the Special Issue ‘Direct Replications in Legal and Criminological Psychology’ was inadvertently published in a regular issue, volume 27, issue 2. This was due to a production error by the publisher and is not attributable to the authors or guest editors. This article should be cited as shown above.</p><p>We apologize for this error.</p>","PeriodicalId":18022,"journal":{"name":"Legal and Criminological Psychology","volume":"30 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/lcrp.12304","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143116706","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Does telling a story in reverse elicit cues to deceit? A replication and extension of Vrij, Leal, Mann and Fisher (2012)","authors":"Laure Brimbal,&nbsp;Angela M. Jones,&nbsp;Elizabeth A. Quinby","doi":"10.1111/lcrp.12252","DOIUrl":"10.1111/lcrp.12252","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Purpose</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The reverse order recall technique has been suggested as tool to improve deception detection accuracy. We conducted a registered replication and extension of Vrij et al., 2012's two experiments, testing whether the reverse order technique increases cues to deception in liars and accuracy in lie detection.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Following Vrij et al., 2012, in Experiment 1, participants were interviewed twice—once lying and once telling the truth—about a mission they completed. In both interviews, participants recounted their experience in chronological and reverse order. We coded interviews for cues to deception according to a cognitive approach: those included in Vrij et al., 2012 (replication) and others included in research on the cognitive load approach (extension). In Experiment 2, participants read two transcripts (replication) or viewed two videos (extension) from Experiment 1 and decided whether senders were lying or telling the truth in continuous (replication) and dichotomous judgements (extension).</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>In Experiment 1, truth tellers were more detailed and plausible than liars. However, we failed to find the interaction between veracity and route recall reported by the original research on the replication or extensions cues. In Experiment 2, we only found an interaction between veracity and route recall for senders telling the truth on dichotomous lie detection judgement. However, this was not supported when examining overall accuracy.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Conclusions</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>These findings do not provide support for the reverse order technique as a tool to improve deception detection. We suggest further theoretical development before this technique is trained to practitioners.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":18022,"journal":{"name":"Legal and Criminological Psychology","volume":"30 1","pages":"30-53"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/lcrp.12252","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138566254","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Preregistered direct replication of the linguistic frame effect on perceived blame and financial liability","authors":"","doi":"10.1111/lcrp.12244","DOIUrl":"10.1111/lcrp.12244","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The article listed below, intended for publication in the Special Issue ‘Direct Replications in Legal and Criminological Psychology’ was inadvertently published in a regular issue, volume 27, issue 2. This was due to a production error by the publisher and is not attributable to the authors or guest editors. This article should be cited as shown below.</p><p>Tonković, M., Denis Vlašiček, D. &amp; Francesca Dumančić, F. (2022). Preregistered direct replication of the linguistic frame effect on perceived blame and financial liability. <i>Legal and Criminal Psychology</i>, <b>27</b>, 354–369. https://doi.org/10.1111/lcrp.12219</p><p>We apologize for this error.</p>","PeriodicalId":18022,"journal":{"name":"Legal and Criminological Psychology","volume":"30 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/lcrp.12244","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136287018","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Bias is persistent: Sequencing case information does not protect against contextual bias in criminal risk assessment","authors":"Verena Oberlader,&nbsp;Bruno Verschuere","doi":"10.1111/lcrp.12279","DOIUrl":"10.1111/lcrp.12279","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Purpose</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>A large body of research indicates that bias is an inherent part of human information processing. This way, bias affects all disciplines that rely on human judgements, such as forensic psychological assessment, including criminal risk evaluation. Although there is a lack of empirical studies, scholars recommend considering case information sequentially beginning with the most relevant information to reduce the effect of potentially biasing task-irrelevant contextual information.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>We ran a preregistered experimental study to test, first, whether task-irrelevant information results in bias effects when people use criminal risk assessment tools, and second, whether such bias could be reduced by sequencing case information according to its prognostic relevance. We collected data of 308 informed lay participants instructed to apply an empirical actuarial risk scale based on a case vignette.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Results showed that task-irrelevant information biased risk assessment. Yet, sequencing case information did not protect against it.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Conclusions</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Considering various boundary conditions (e.g., overconfidence in the accuracy of one's own assessment and other sources of bias), we discuss challenges to mitigate the biasing effect of task-irrelevant information.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":18022,"journal":{"name":"Legal and Criminological Psychology","volume":"30 1","pages":"143-158"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/lcrp.12279","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143110685","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}