EFFECTS OF TASK INTERRUPTION AND TASK INVOLVEMENT ON JURY DELIBERATION

• NCJ Number: 47837
• Author(s): M R THOMAS
• Date Published: 1978
• Length: 76 pages
• Grant Number(s): 77-NI-99-0038
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Justice
• Corporate Author: Catholic University of America
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Thesis/Dissertation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: DOCTORAL DISSERTATION - CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA

Annotation

THE EFFECT OF JURY MEMBERS' INVOLVEMENT IN ACTIVITIES EXTERNAL TO THEIR IMMEDIATE JURY DUTY ON JURY DELIBERATION IS EXAMINED.

Abstract

BASED ON THE ZEIGARNIK EFFECT, WHICH STATES THAT INTERRUPTED TASKS CONTINUE TO EXERT A CERTAIN 'PULL' TO RETURN TO THE TASK, THIS STUDY WAS DESIGNED TO TEST THE HYPOTHESIS THAT PEOPLE FOR WHOM JURY DUTY CONSTITUTED AN INTERRUPTION IN PERFORMANCE OF INVOLVING TASKS OUTSIDE THE COURTROOM WOULD ACT TO EXPEDITE JURY DELIBERATIONS MORE SO THAN OTHER MEMBERS. IT WAS PREDICTED THAT MOCK JURORS WHO HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN INTERRUPTED DURING AN INVOLVING TASK WOULD MAKE MORE CLOSURE-SEEKING STATEMENTS AND FEWER INFORMATION-SEEKING STATEMENTS, SPEND LESS TIME IN DELIBERATION, AND MAKE FEWER STATEMENTS OF ANY KIND THAN WOULD JURORS NOT INTERRUPTED DURING AN INVOLVING TASK. OF THE 110 SUBJECTS WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE EXPERIMENT, THERE WERE 39 MALES, 71 FEMALES, 78 WHITES, AND 32 BLACKS; THE MEAN AGE WAS 25 AND 1/4 YEARS. TWO EXPERIMENTS WERE CONDUCTED. IN ONE, THE SUBJECTS WROTE DOWN WORD ASSOCIATIONS TO 15 TAPE-RECORDED STIMULUS WORDS. IN ANOTHER, AFTER LISTENING TO A TAPE-RECORDED JURY CASE, SUBJECTS WERE RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO FIVE-MEMBER JURIES AND ASKED TO REACH A VERDICT ON THE CASE. BEFORE THEIR DELIBERATION, WHICH WAS RECORDED AND LATER CODED FOR THE TYPE OF STATEMENT MADE BY THE PARICIPANTS, THE WORD ASSOCIATION TASK WAS DESCRIBED EITHER AS NONINVOLVING OR INVOLVING; ONE-HALF PERFORMED A NONINVOLVING TASK WHILE THE OTHER HALF PERFORMED AN INVOLVING TASK. ONE-HALF OF EACH GROUP WAS ALLOWED TO FINISH UP THE TASK WHILE THE OTHER HALF WAS INTERRUPTED, THUS CREATING FOUR GROUPS: INVOLVED/INTERRUPTED; INVOLVED/COMPLETED; NONINVOLVED/INTERRUPTED; AND NONINVOLVED/COMPLETED. THE RESULTS ONLY PARTIALLY SUPPORTED THE GENERAL HYPOTHESIS. THE DATA SHOWED THAT MOCK JURORS IN THE INTERRUPTED CONDITION DELIBERATED FOR A SIGNIFICANTLY SHORTER TIME THAN DID JURORS IN THE COMPLETED CONDITION. WHEN DATA WERE COVARIED FOR AGE, RACE, AND SEX, IT WAS SEEN THAT INTERRUPTED JURORS MADE SIGNIFICANTLY FEWER STATEMENTS DURING THE DELIBERATION. PREDICTIONS REGARDING THE EFFECTS OF TASK INVOLVEMENT WERE NOT SUPPORTED BY THE DATA, NOR WERE PREDICTIONS REGARDING THE NUMBER OF INFORMATION-SEEKING OR CLOSURE-SEEKING STATEMENTS. TABULAR DATA AND APPENDIXES ARE PROVIDED. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED--TAO)