Investigating Whether There is a Difference in Victim Credibility Scores and Guilt Verdicts Provided by Mock Jurors When a Victim is High or Low in Neuroticism.

Laban, Luke (2018) Investigating Whether There is a Difference in Victim Credibility Scores and Guilt Verdicts Provided by Mock Jurors When a Victim is High or Low in Neuroticism. Manchester Metropolitan University. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the impact of victim neuroticism (VN) on victim credibility and guilt verdict. Sixty-four undergraduate students watched a video of a mock victim either high or low in neuroticism providing testimony of a fictional offence. Participants completed two questionnaires: the adapted EPQR-S-N (Eysenck et al, 1985) to measure VN and the adapted Witness Credibility Scale (WCS; Brodsky et al, 2010) to measure victim credibility. Participants provided a verdict in relation to the defendant’s guilt. EPQR-S-N scores were analysed using a Mann-Whitney U test. This revealed that scores in the high VN condition were significantly higher than scores in the low VN condition. WCS scores were analysed using an independent t-test. This revealed that scores in the high VN condition were significantly lower than scores in the low VN condition. Guilt verdicts were analysed using a chi-square test. This revealed no significant association between guilt verdicts in the high and low VN conditions. It is recommended that future research uses professional actors in a real mock court scenario and extends the study by testing participants in a simulated jury group decision-making scenario. Potential confounding factors such as ethnicity, age and participant neuroticism should be considered.