dixon

• aim


  influence of accents on decision making
• method


  lab experiment as a mock trial
• sample


  119 participants from the uk (24 males, 95 females)

  psychology undergraduates from west midlands
• procedure


  audio recording of a transcript of police interviews using a birmingham or standard english accent

  middle aged police officers and young male suspect

  manipulated the type of crime and race of suspect

  same young man doing the accents which removes EVs
• results


  the birmingham accent rated more guilty than the standard english accent 4.7/7 and 3.62/7

  race and crime type has no significant differences (robbery = blue collar and fraud = white collar)

  blue collar crime with black suspect and birmingham accent rated more guilty

  standard english rated higher in attractiveness and superiority
• AO2


  contributes to the understanding of perceptual biases on accent

  birmingham accent was more untrustworthy and more guilty

  can try to reduce bias by informing judges and juries of biases and train them on perceptions of superiority
• other links


  castellow and sigall and ostrove - attractiveness

  • 20% increase in guilt for lower sentences of attractive
  • unless of juries believe this is used for their benefit