How information about perpetrators' nature and nurture influences assessments of their character, mental states, and deserved punishment.

ABSTRACT: Evidence of perpetrators' biological or situational circumstances has been increasingly brought to bear in courtrooms. Yet, research findings are mixed as to whether this information influences folk evaluations of perpetrators' dispositions, and subsequently, evaluations of their deserved punishments. Previous research has not clearly dissociated the effects of information about perpetrators' genetic endowment versus their environmental circumstances. Additionally, most research has focused exclusively on violations involving extreme physical harm, often using mock capital sentences cases as examples. To address these gaps in the literature, we employed a "switched-at-birth" paradigm to investigate whether positive or negative information about perpetrators' genetic or environmental backgr

SUBMITTER: Lynch JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6804977 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature