Credibility of the emotional witness: a study of ratings by court judges.
Previous studies have shown that the emotional behavior displayed during testimony may affect the perceived credibility of the witness. The present study compares credibility ratings by Norwegian court judges with those made by lay people. The participants viewed one of three video-recorded versions of a rape victim's statement, role played by a professional actress. The statement was given in a free-recall manner with one of three kinds of emotions displayed, termed congruent, neutral, and incongruent emotional expression. The results show that, in contrast to lay people, the credibility ratings of court judges and their votes for a guilty verdict were not influenced by the emotions displayed by the witness. Results are discussed in terms of professional expertise.
Wessel
Ellen
E
Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Box 1094, Blindern, 0317, Oslo, Norway. e.m.wessel@psykologi.uio.no
Drevland
Guri C B
GC
Eilertsen
Dag Erik
DE
Magnussen
Svein
S
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003416:Criminal Law; D003657:Decision Making; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009664:Norway; D011902:Rape / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology; D012938:Social Perception; D014342:Truth Disclosure; D014743:Videotape Recording