The effect of information bias on the formation of impressions: Courtroom implications

Abstract

Purpose – The ability to form impressions allows predicting future behaviour and assessing past conduct by facilitating decision making in different contexts. Both verbal cues (what we know about someone) and non-verbal cues (the emotion expressed) could modulate this process to a different degree. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between these variables and their impact on the formation of impressions within criminal proceedings. Design/methodology/approach – An experiment was conducted that involved 142 Mexican students, who evaluated emotional response (happiness, sadness, fear and anger) and personality (emotional stability, kindness, responsibility, sociability and creativity) through the facial expression of a Spanish child-murderer. Two groups were formed for comparative purposes, one of which was provided with information on the murderer (activated information (AI)), while the second group had no related information whatsoever (deactivated information (DI)). Findings – The results recorded a higher score for happiness (p¼0.037, η2¼0.03) and anger (p¼0.001, η2¼0.08), and a lower one for sadness (p¼0.002, η2¼0.06), fear (p¼0.002, η2¼0.07), emotional stability (po0.001, η2¼0.09) responsibility (po0.001, η2¼0.10) and kindness (p¼0.01, η2¼0.05) in the AI condition compared to the DI condition. Originality/value – The formation of impressions is an adaptive process that may be affected by variables that are complex and difficult to control, which within legal proceedings might bias court decisions and compromise the objectivity required of the judiciary.