Author ORCID Identifier
Semester
Fall
Date of Graduation
2024
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
MS
College
Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Psychology
Committee Chair
Elisa Krackow
Committee Member
Elizabeth Levelle
Committee Member
Amy Fiske
Abstract
Memory recall and forgetting is a complex process. Memories can be completely forgotten (e.g., Ebbinghaus, 1885/1964; Murre, 2015) or repressed and recovered at a later time (e.g., Key et al., 1996; Foster-Lee et al., 1999). Instances of sexual assault may be disclosed to a close acquaintance or medical professional at the time of the event or kept secret until the time of reporting to authorities (e.g., Pica et al., 2020a). In the current study, mock jurors’ perceptions of credibility and guilt, as well as the amount of compensation awarded to the plaintiff, will be assessed in response to testimony depicting variations of memory recall (i.e., complete, forgotten-inferred, or forgotten), and disclosure (i.e., disclosed or not disclosed) immediately after the assault was assessed using data collected from voluntary MTurk users. No outcome variables within this study reached statistical significance, indicating minimal memory recall and disclosure influence on jurors’ perceptions of rape. Despite non-significant results, essential implications of the findings are discussed alongside future research direction.
Recommended Citation
Meier, Johnathan, "The Effects of Forgetting and Disclosure on Mock Jurors' Perceptions of an Alleged Rape" (2024). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 12666.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/12666