On the Presumption of Evidentiary Independence: Can Confessions Corrupt Eyewitness Identifications?

ABSTRACT— A confession is potent evidence, persuasive to judges and juries. Is it possible that a confession can also affect other evidence? The present study tested the hypothesis that a confession will alter eyewitnesses' identification decisions. Two days after witnessing a staged theft and making an identification decision from a lineup that did not include the thief, participants were told that certain lineup members had confessed or denied guilt during a subsequent interrogation. Among those participants who had made a selection but were told that another lineup member confessed, 61% changed their identifications. Among those participants who had not made an identification, 50% went on to select the confessor when his identity was known. These findings challenge the presumption in law that different forms of evidence are independent and suggest an important overlooked mechanism by which innocent confessors are wrongfully convicted: Potentially exculpatory evidence is corrupted by a confession itself.     

The implicit cognition of relationship maintenance: Inattention to attractive alternatives

The temptation of alternative mating partners can threaten satisfaction with and commitment to an existing romantic relationship. Consequently, people exhibit cognitive processes that help protect their relationship when faced with desirable relationship alternatives. Previous studies have focused primarily on processes that involve explicit, higher-order cognitive mechanisms such as overt judgments and choices (e.g., judging the alternative as less attractive). The current studies, in contrast, examined automatic, early-stage attentional processes that may help protect against threats posed by exposure to alternative mating partners. Whereas single participants responded to implicit mating primes by increasing early-stage attention to physically attractive opposite sex targets, participants in a committed romantic relationship were inattentive to those attractive alternatives. This research provides a novel approach for studying implicit cognitive mechanisms involved in maintaining close relationships.     

Cholinergic receptor antagonists impair formation of intermediate-term memory in the chick

Several experiments examined the effects of cholinergic receptor antagonists on formation of memory in the chick. Scopolamine produced amnesia in chicks trained on a one-trial peck avoidance task in a dose-dependent manner. Pretraining injection of scopolamine produced amnesia that developed between 15 and 30 min after training, suggesting that scopolamine interferes with intermediate-term memory (ITM), previously described to be active during this time (Patterson, Alvarado, Warner, Bennett, & Rosenzweig, 1986). Pretraining injection of scopolamine or ouabain, an inhibitor of ATPase activity shown previously to inhibit formation of ITM, produced identical time courses of amnesia development, supporting the hypothesis that scopolamine interferes with ITM. Pirenzepine, an inhibitor of M1 muscarinic receptors, was effective in producing amnesia, whereas gallamine, an M2 receptor inhibitor, did not produce amnesia. These results suggest that M1, but not M2, receptors are involved in memory formation in the chick.     

Cognitive Antecedents and Sequelae of Smoking Relapse Crises1

This study examines Marlatt's account of the cognitions surrounding relapse episodes. Interviews with 143 ex-smokers who called a relapse prevention hotline provided mixed support for this account. Most subjects, especially those who smoked, stated that they had expected smoking to result in reduced tension. Subjects who were motivated by reduction of craving were unlikely to smoke. Contrary to expectations, all subjects experienced significant drops in self-efficacy as a result of the relapse crisis, regardless of whether or not they smoked. Subjects who did not smoke worried about future crises, while those who did felt guilty about their transgression. Both groups reported feelings of failure, which were related to the absence of coping. These unexpected results, though based on a limited sample, suggest that many subjects' experience of relapses and near-relapses are not well described by current theory.     

TV cameras,public self-consciousness,and mock juror performance

In Chandler v. Florida (1981), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the presence of television cameras in the courtroom does not violate a defendant's constitutional right to a fair trial. Since then, several states have expanded their TV coverage rights, and the controversy has intensified. The present study tested opponents' argument that TV cameras distract jurors, thereby reducing their reliance on evidence in the decision-making process. Fifty-one community adults watched a 95-min videotape of a civil trial in the presence or absence of a camera. No effects were obtained on verdicts, awards, or a series of self-report measures. The camera did impair subjects' recall of the evidence, but this effect was dually limited—(a) consistent with an adaptation hypothesis, an initially strong distractive effect gradually diminished, resulting in a net post-trial loss of information that was not statistically significant, and (b) consistent with an individual differences hypothesis, the camera impaired the recall of subjects who were low but not high in dispositional public self-consciousness. These findings were discussed in terms of their practical implications for courtroom management and their contribution to the self-awareness literature.     

Individual and group psychology — Are they opposed?

It is regrettable that classical psychoanalysis has failed to pursue Freud's early interest in group psychology. In this paper, the inseparability of individual and group psychology are affirmed and the concept of identification is employed to illustrate this unity. In the absence of a satisfactory global theory of group psychology, we must rely on the contemporary knowledge of specific concepts and mini-models. The human need for finding self-esteem and coherence through group ties is increasingly recognized in the field of community mental health.This paper is based on a lecture presented at the Washington Square Institute for Psychotherapy and Mental Health in 1977.     

Sally Beauchamp's career: a psychoarchaeological key to Morton Prince's classic case of multiple personality

By the methods of psychoarchaeology, the identity of Sally Beauchamp, Morton Prince's classic case of multiple personality, has been established. The reconstructed life history has for the first time revealed the roots of the dissociative process. This goal was actually obscured by the tangled web of Prince's rambling 1906 book and his other publications on the case. The determinative events included two instances of sudden infant death during the childhood period of the patient, the earlier of which was apparently never even known to Dr. Prince. Though not mentioned in the patient's autobiography, it probably induced the initial dissociation to defend the integration of the personality. The relevance of the new concept of SIDS (since 1969) is considered. Other disturbing influences were the constant rejection of the patient by her mother, who died at an early age, and probable severe abuse by the widowed father which led her to run away from home (permanently) at age 16. Nine years afterward, therapy with Dr. Prince began and lasted seven years. It is suggested that this case and the parallel one of Breuer and Freud (Anna O.) be comparatively reexamined from the standpoint of modern feminism. The role of the conventional 19th-century woman was not acceptable to either of them, and both probably had an unusually large innate, bisexual endowment. Endogenous conflict, intensified by social demands, produced dissociation as a pseudo-solution until, through opportune therapy and other environmental opportunities, each was able to achieve a productive modus vivendi. The relation of bisexuality to the etiology of personality dissociation in general is considered. An incidental but instructive discovery made in the course of the Prince research was an unknown letter from William James to Morton Prince about The Dissociation of a Personality. This find points up the fact that James's final metaphysic was a form of pluralistic panpsychism derived from both psychical research and the contemporary knowledge about dissociated personality. James postulated a cosmic multiple personality.     

Unity and Diversity of Psychology

Factors both internal and external to psychology are working for both unity and diversity of psychology. Table 1 gives examples of the four kinds of factors, and the article examines each of these examples. It also attempts to evaluate some of the costs and benefits of both unity and diversity. Possible courses of action are considered.