Maegherman Enide, Ask Karl, Horselenberg Robert, van Koppen Peter J
Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, Faculty of Law, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Department of Psychology, Gothenburg University, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Psychiatr Psychol Law. 2021 Jan 29;29(1):33-52. doi: 10.1080/13218719.2020.1855268. eCollection 2022.
Order of evidence presentation affects the evaluation and the integration of evidence in mock criminal cases. In this study, we aimed to determine whether the order in which incriminating and exonerating evidence is presented influences cognitive dissonance and subsequent display of confirmation bias. Law students ( = 407) were presented with a murder case vignette, followed by incriminating and exonerating evidence in various orders. Contrary to a predicted primacy effect (i.e. early evidence being most influential), a recency effect (i.e. late evidence being most influential) was observed in ratings of likelihood of the suspect's guilt. The cognitive dissonance ratings and conviction rates were not affected by the order of evidence presentation. The effects of evidence presentation order may be limited to specific aspects of legal decisions. However, there is a need to replicate the results using procedures and samples that are more representative of real-life criminal law trials.
证据呈现顺序会影响模拟刑事案件中证据的评估与整合。在本研究中，我们旨在确定有罪证据和无罪证据的呈现顺序是否会影响认知失调以及随后确认偏差的表现。向407名法律专业学生展示了一个谋杀案小插曲，随后以不同顺序呈现有罪和无罪证据。与预测的首因效应（即早期证据最具影响力）相反，在对嫌疑人有罪可能性的评分中观察到了近因效应（即后期证据最具影响力）。认知失调评分和定罪率不受证据呈现顺序的影响。证据呈现顺序的影响可能仅限于法律决策的特定方面。然而，需要使用更能代表现实生活中刑事审判的程序和样本重复这些结果。
