RT Article
T1 Initial evidence for the assimilation hypothesis
JF Psychology, crime & law
VO 23
IS 10
SP 1010
OP 1020
A1 Rassin, Eric
LA English
YR 2017
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1736068849
AB The assimilation hypothesis dictates that knowledge of prior evidence makes legal decision makers assign more weight to subsequent evidence. For example, the evidentiary power of a line-up identification is perceived to be stronger if the decision maker knows that the suspect has confessed, compared to when knowledge of the confession is absent. In three studies, the assimilation hypothesis was tested. As expected, knowledge of DNA-evidence inflated the estimated strength of subsequent eyewitness identification evidence (Study 1), and also inflated overall conviction and conviction rate (Study 2). A similar assimilation effect was found with knowledge of the suspect’s dangerous psychopathology (i.e. psychopathic and anti-social personality traits). Such knowledge inflated the estimated strength of fingerprint evidence. In conclusion, the assimilation effect is a threat to rational legal decision making in both lays (Study 2) and professional judges (Studies 1 and 3).
K1 Assimilation
K1 CSI-effect
K1 Coherence-based reasoning
K1 Cross-over-effect
K1 Evidence
DO 10.1080/1068316X.2017.1371307