Influence of Empathy in Mock Jury Criminal Cases: Adding to the Affect Control Model

• NCJ Number: 198422
• Journal: Western Criminology Review Volume: 4 Issue: 1 Dated: 2002 Pages: 55-67
• Author(s): Olga Tsoudis
• Date Published: 2002
• Length: 13 pages
• Grant Number(s): SES 9008951
• Sponsoring Agency: National Science Foundation
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Downloaded December 16, 2002.

Annotation

This study adds empathy as another variable in affect control theory and tests its influence in the legal context through an experiment that used undergraduate respondents' reactions as mock jurors to statements attributed to defendants and victims.

Abstract

Affect control theory explains the relations among emotion display, identity, and behavior in social interactions. In affect control theory, the social event is the unit of analysis, with each event composed of an actor, the behavior of the actor, and an object of the behavior. The inclusion of empathy as a variable in social interactions emphasizes the importance of the observer's compassion on judgments regarding the actors. In order to test the influence of empathy in a legal context, this study considers its impact on jury decision making as they respond to statements by defendants and victims. Study participants were 143 undergraduate students at Southwestern University. There were an equal number of males and females. The mock jurors were asked to act like jurors in deciding punishment for a convicted offender, rather than the verdict. After reading the offender's and victim's testimony for one of the two trials, each participant answered questions regarding judgments about the offender, the criminal behavior, and the victim. Questions measured perceived emotion displays, empathy, and identity inferences for the criminal and the victim, along with recommended punishment for the criminal. This study found a significant relationship between emotion display and empathy for both the criminal and the victim. The presence of empathy, in turn, significantly influenced the perceived identity of the criminal; however, empathy did not influence the perceived identity of the victim. Based on these results, a juror's empathy for a criminal, although not the victim, is a contributing variable in affect control theory. 1 table and 4 figures