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In a mock-trial study, jurors read evidence about a doctor who had killed a terminally ill patient at the patient's request. We tested whether instructing jurors about jury nullification (ie jurors' power to return a not-guilty verdict even when legal guilt is beyond doubt, often because the law would result in unjust convictions) would exacerbate the effect of pre-trial euthanasia attitudes on their verdicts - compared to standard, pattern jury instructions. We also hypothesized that anti-euthanasia pre-trial attitudes would result in moral outrage at the defendant and higher conviction rates, but pro-euthanasia attitudes would prompt feelings of moral outrage at the law and lower conviction rates. Moderated mediation analyses revealed that nullification instructions bolstered the effect of attitudes on verdicts by encouraging jurors to rely on their feelings of moral outrage toward the defendant. Jurors' moral outrage toward the law mediated the effect of attitudes on verdicts regardless of nullification instructions., (© 2020 The Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and Law.)

To investigate dual-process persuasion theories in the context of group decision making, we studied low and high need-for-cognition (NFC) participants within a mock trial study. Participants considered plaintiff and defense expert scientific testimony that varied in argument strength. All participants heard a cross-examination of the experts focusing on peripheral information (e.g., credentials) about the expert, but half were randomly assigned to also hear central information highlighting flaws in the expert's message (e.g., quality of the research presented by the expert). Participants rendered pre- and post-group-deliberation verdicts, which were considered "scientifically accurate" if the verdicts reflected the strong (versus weak) expert message, and "scientifically inaccurate" if they reflected the weak (versus strong) expert message. For individual participants, we replicated studies testing classic persuasion theories: Factors promoting reliance on central information (i.e., central cross-examination, high NFC) improved verdict accuracy because they sensitized individual participants to the quality discrepancy between the experts' messages. Interestingly, however, at the group level, the more that scientifically accurate mock jurors discussed peripheral (versus central) information about the experts, the more likely their group was to reach the scientifically accurate verdict. When participants were arguing for the scientifically accurate verdict consistent with the strong expert message, peripheral comments increased their persuasiveness, which made the group more likely to reach the more scientifically accurate verdict.

Many adult survivors of childhood abuse hide their victimization, avoiding disclosure that could identify perpetrators, end the abuse, and bring help to the victim. We surveyed 1,679 women undergraduates to understand disclosure of childhood sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, and, for the first time, witnessed domestic violence, which many consider to be emotionally abusive. A substantial minority of victims failed to ever disclose their sexual abuse (23%), physical abuse (34%), emotional abuse (20%), and witnessed domestic violence (29%). Overall, abuse-specific factors were better predictors of disclosure than individual-level characteristics. Disclosure of sexual abuse was related to experiencing more frequent abuse (by the same and by multiple perpetrators), being more worried about injury and more upset at the time of the abuse, and self-labeling as a victim of abuse. Disclosure of physical abuse was related to experiencing more frequent abuse (by the same and multiple perpetrators), being less emotionally close to the perpetrator, being older when the abuse ended, being more worried and upset, and self-labeling as a victim. Disclosure of emotional abuse was associated with being older when the abuse ended, and being more worried and upset. Disclosure was unrelated to victim demographic characteristics or defensive reactions (dissociative proneness, fantasy proneness, repressive coping style, and temporary forgetting), except that among physical and emotional abuse victims, repressors were less likely to disclose than non-repressors. Disclosure of witnessing domestic violence was not significantly related to any factors measured., (© The Author(s) 2014.)

Alcohol plays a major role in sexual assaults, but few studies have examined its impact on recovery outcomes, particularly in longitudinal studies. In a longitudinal study of 1,013 adult sexual assault survivors, we investigated the effects of victim drinking on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as the mediating role of characterological and behavioral self-blame attributions. In line with some prior research, victims who were drinking before their assault experienced less PTSD, but more self-blame than those who were not. Characterological, but not behavioral self-blame was related to increased PTSD symptoms. Thus, although drinking was overall related to less PTSD, it was also associated with increased PTSD via self-blame attributions, highlighting the danger of blaming victims of alcohol-related rapes for their assaults. Implications for future research and clinical work with survivors of alcohol-related sexual assaults are drawn., (© The Author(s) 2016.)

Sexual assault survivors receive various positive and negative social reactions to assault disclosures, yet little is known about the directionality of associations of social reactions to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms over time. Data from a large, diverse sample of women who had experienced adult sexual assault was analyzed with hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to examine how negative and positive reactions relate to PTSD symptoms over 3 years and to test the hypothesis that the relationship between negative social reactions and PTSD symptoms is reciprocal. We found that, as predicted, social reactions predicted subsequent PTSD symptoms, and in turn PTSD symptoms predicted subsequent social reactions. We also investigated the role of sexual revictimization by comparing women who suffered (vs. not) additional sexual victimization during the course of our study. Revictimized women had greater PTSD symptoms and more negative social reactions, but associations of social reactions with PTSD symptoms did not vary according to revictimization status. Implications for practice and suggestions for future research are discussed., (© The Author(s) 2014.)

We investigated whether expressing anger increases social influence for men, but diminishes social influence for women, during group deliberation. In a deception paradigm, participants believed they were engaged in a computer-mediated mock jury deliberation about a murder case. In actuality, the interaction was scripted. The script included 5 other mock jurors who provided verdicts and comments in support of the verdicts; 4 agreed with the participant and 1 was a "holdout" dissenter. Holdouts expressed their opinions with no emotion, anger, or fear and had either male or female names. Holdouts exerted no influence on participants' opinions when they expressed no emotion or fear. Participants' confidence in their own verdict dropped significantly, however, after male holdouts expressed anger. Yet, anger expression undermined female holdouts: Participants became significantly more confident in their original verdicts after female holdouts expressed anger-even though they were expressing the exact same opinion and emotion as the male holdouts. Mediation analyses revealed that participants drew different inferences from male versus female anger, which created a gender gap in influence during group deliberation. The current study has implications for group decisions in general, and jury deliberations in particular, by suggesting that expressing anger might lead men to gain influence, but women to lose influence over others (even when making identical arguments). These diverging consequences might result in women potentially having less influence on societally important decisions than men, such as jury verdicts., ((c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).)

Using cluster analysis, we investigated the effects of assault characteristics (i.e., level of violence, subjective distress, alcohol consumption, perpetrator identity) on PTSD symptoms, and whether these effects are mediated by postassault social and psychological reactions. A large community sample of women sexual assault survivors completed 2 mail surveys at a 1-year interval. In line with prior research, cluster analyses revealed the existence of 3 general categories of sexual assault, which we described as "high violence," "alcohol-related," and "moderate sexual severity." Alcohol-related assaults resulted in fewer PTSD symptoms than high-violence assaults at Time 1, but not at Time 2. Alcohol-related and violent assaults resulted in more PTSD symptoms than moderate-severity assaults at both times. The effect of assault-characteristics clusters on Time 2 PTSD was mediated by Time 1 self-blame and turning against social reactions. The importance of considering effects of violence and alcohol consumption during the assault to better understand postassault PTSD, including implications for theory and practice, are discussed., ((PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).)

In three experiments, we investigated the influence of juror, victim, and case factors on mock jurors' decisions in several types of child sexual assault cases (incest, day care, stranger abduction, and teacher-perpetrated abuse). We also validated and tested the ability of several scales measuring empathy for child victims, children's believability, and opposition to adult/child sex, to mediate the effect of jurors' gender on case judgments. Supporting a theoretical model derived from research on the perceived credibility of adult rape victims, women compared to men were more empathic toward child victims, more opposed to adult/child sex, more pro-women, and more inclined to believe children generally. In turn, women (versus men) made more pro-victim judgments in hypothetical abuse cases; that is, attitudes and empathy generally mediated this juror gender effect that is pervasive in this literature. The experiments also revealed that strength of case evidence is a powerful factor in determining judgments, and that teen victims (14 years old) are blamed more for sexual abuse than are younger children (5 years old), but that perceptions of 5 and 10 year olds are largely similar. Our last experiment illustrated that our findings of mediation generalize to a community member sample., (Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Sexual assault survivors receive various positive and negative social reactions to assault disclosures, yet little is known about mechanisms linking these social reactions to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and problem drinking. Data from a large, diverse sample of women who had experienced adult sexual assault were analyzed with structural equation modeling to test a theoretical model of the relationships between specific negative social reactions (e.g., controlling, infantilizing) and positive reactions (e.g., tangible support), perceived control over recovery, PTSD, and drinking outcomes (N = 1,863). A model disaggregating controlling reactions from infantilizing reactions showed that infantilizing reactions in particular related to less perceived control, which in turn was related to more PTSD and problem drinking, whereas controlling reactions were not related to perceived control, PTSD, or problem drinking. Tangible support was related to increased perceived control over recovery, yet it was not protective against PTSD or problem drinking. Finally, PTSD and drinking to cope fully mediated the effect of perceived control on problem drinking. Implications for practice and suggestions for future research are discussed.

This study examined whether coping, emotion regulation, and self-blame mediate relationships of trauma histories with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression in adult sexual assault victims (N = 1863). A path analysis showed that theorized mediators partially mediated associations between trauma history variables and psychological symptoms. Specifically, child sexual abuse severity was related to greater post-traumatic stress disorder and depression indirectly through maladaptive coping and decreased emotion regulation but not self-blame. Other traumas had direct relationships with symptoms and partially mediated effects through maladaptive coping and emotion regulation. Child sexual abuse was unrelated to self-blame, but other traumas were related to greater self-blame. Results differed according to whether women had counseling post-assault. Implications are drawn for future research and clinical treatment of adult sexual assault victims.

The two studies reported here demonstrated that a combination of anger and disgust predicts moral outrage. In Study 1, anger toward moral transgressions (sexual assault, funeral picketing) predicted moral outrage only when it co-occurred with at least moderate disgust, and disgust predicted moral outrage only when it co-occurred with at least moderate anger. In Study 2, a mock-jury paradigm that included emotionally disturbing photographs of a murder victim revealed that, compared to anger, disgust was a more consistent predictor of moral outrage (i.e., it predicted moral outrage at all levels of anger). Furthermore, moral outrage mediated the effect of participants' anger on their confidence in a guilty verdict--but only when anger co-occurred with at least a moderate level of disgust--whereas moral outrage mediated the effect of participants' disgust on their verdict confidence at all levels of anger. The interactive effect of anger and disgust has important implications for theoretical explanations of moral outrage, moral judgments in general, and legal decision making.