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Cross‐examination of the expert witness: Do hostile tactics affect impressions of a simulated jury?
Author(s) -
Gibbs Margaret S.,
Sigal Janet,
Adams Bonnie,
Grossman Beth
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
behavioral sciences and the law
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.649
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1099-0798
pISSN - 0735-3936
DOI - 10.1002/bsl.2370070211
Subject(s) - expert witness , witness , cross examination , jury , plaintiff , defense attorney , psychology , forensic psychology , affect (linguistics) , social psychology , applied psychology , law , clinical psychology , political science , communication
Ninety‐one introductory psychology students viewed a videotape of a simulated personal damage trial in which a psychologist expert witness testified about a plaintiff's psychological problems resulting from trauma. The defense attorney's cross‐examination tactics, employed against the expert witness, were varied in the videotape. A 2 × 2 factorial design was used, with leading versus nonleading questions and a hostile versus nonhostile attorney. An interaction effect was obtained, in which a hostile attorney using leading questions and a nonhostile attorney using nonleading questions were perceived as least effective.