Three experiments examined some features of hypnotic induction that might be useful in the development of brief memory-facilitation procedures. The first involved a hypnosis procedure designed to facilitate face identification; the second employed a brief, focused-meditation (FM) procedure, with and without eye closure, designed to facilitate memory for an emotional event. The third experiment was a check for simple motivation and expectancy effects. Limited facilitation effects were found for hypnosis, but these were accompanied by increased confidence in incorrect responses. However, eye closure and FM were effective in facilitating free recall of an event without an increase in errors. FM reduced phonemic fluency, suggesting that the effectiveness of FM was not due to simple changes in expectancy or motivation.

Traditional stalking is a considerable public health issue and describes a constellation of behaviors in which one individual intrudes upon or harasses another resulting in fear experienced by the victim as a result of the unwanted pursuit (McEwan, MacKenzie, Mullen, & James, 2012). Ubiquitous access to the Internet has dramatically altered communication in contemporary society, and these electronic means provide perpetrators with novel ways of pursuing individuals. In light of this, a phenomenon known as cyberstalking has emerged that can be defined as the repeated pursuit of an individual utilizing electronic means to induce fear or distress (Maple, Short, & Brown, 2011). As the Internet is a rapidly evolving medium, many new forms of cyberstalking are emerging and provide additional tools for stalkers' arsenal. Cyberstalking can take many forms including sending direct threats via email, encouraging others to threaten or harass the victim, distributing intimate photographs online, impersonating the victim online, and seeking and compiling information on the victim (Short, Linford, Wheatcroft, & Maple, 2014). Social networking sites provide a novel way to gather information about an individual and, as such sites facilitate intrusion-like behaviors, they are being used as conduits for stalking and online harassment (Fox, 2016). Indeed, according to Kraft and Wang (2010), social media has made stalking much easier and visiting social networking sites can lead to an increased likelihood of becoming a victim of cyberstalking. However, in many cases, the perpetrator makes use of both online and offline stalking techniques (Maple et al., 2011;Sheridan & Grant, 2007) and other researchers have also reported that it is common for cyberstalking to begin with the issuing of threats, and escalate to physical assault (Bocij, Griffiths, & McFarlane, 2002).Stalking is one of the most common forms of interpersonal violence. Figures from the British Crime Survey 2011 demonstrate that one in five women and one in 10 men will be stalked at some point during their life (Smith, Coleman, Eder, & Hall, 2011) and more recent figures from the 2013/2014 Crime Survey for England and Wales demonstrate that 4.4% of women and 2.5% of men aged 16 710292S GOXXX10.

Purpose. Little research has been conducted on the effects of courtroom examination/questioning styles on witness confidence and accuracy. Two studies were therefore conducted, one investigating the effects of examination style on witness confidence and accuracy, the other investigating observers/jurors perceptions of witness confidence and accuracy. Method. In Study 1, after observing a video event, 60 witnesses were individually interviewed about the event according to one of three conditions: (1) simple questioning style, (2) lawyerese questioning style (containing leading and suppositional phrases), and (3) lawyerese with negative feedback style. In study 2, 60 observers/ jurors observed a good and a poor witness under examination by one of the three questioning styles. Measures of the perceived fairness of the examination were also taken in study 2. Results. In the main, significant results were found only for question items classed as difficult to remember. The lawyerese style appeared to have an adverse affect on confidence‐accuracy relationships. Adding subtle negative feedback reduced the problem, but at the price of reduced overall accuracy. Observers (jurors) also seemed to be most affected by observing the negative feedback style; judging the witness overall to be less accurate. An unexpected result was that, regardless of questioning style, presenting the testimony of the least confident witness first appeared to spuriously boost confidence and thereby perceived accuracy, in that witness's testimony. No significant effects were found for perceived fairness. Conclusions. In general, these results lend some support to those who have asserted that the lawyerese style of questioning may be unwise.

Surgeons are not prejudiced against randomized trials, but their intolerance of uncertainty may inhibit them from deciding that an individual patient is suitable for trial entry. If more surgeons were female, this difference between surgeons and physicians might disappear.

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No abstract

There is presently little research that examines the effects of preparing witnesses to give the most accurate evidence in court. The aim of the investigation reported in this article was to explore whether witness preparation in the form of preparation statements would impact upon outcomes in respect of cross-examination questioning strategies employed in court. Specifically, the

Witnesses play a clear and pivotal role in the criminal justice system and there is an obvious public interest in identifying procedures that both undermine and maximize the quality of evidence received by the criminal courts. This paper reports an investigation into the effects of witness familiarization and cross-examination type on adult witness accuracy that situates outcomes in both legal and psychological context. 60 mock witnesses observed a crime event and each witness was then cross-examined by a practising barrister in a moot courtroom according to two conditions - either via a scripted complex version of cross-examination or by a simpler but equivalent scripted examination. Mock witnesses were also allocated to two further conditions - half the participants received a guidance booklet on cross-examination and the other half received no familiarization to the process. Study outcomes showed that familiarization of witnesses to cross-examination processes increased accurate responses and reduced errors. The guidance seemingly allowed accessibility to cognitive information that enabled witnesses to process information more effectively. On this basis, advance written information about the nature of the cross-examination and potentially misleading tactics used by advocates could help to immunize against negative lawyerly influence.