Conviction proneness and the authoritarian juror: Inability to disregard information or attitudinal bias?

In Exp I, 120 undergraduate mock jurors completed the Mitchell-Byrne Authoritarianism Scale and rendered verdicts and gave probability of guilt estimates for trial evidence involving 2 levels of admissibility of wiretap evidence (inadmissible and admissible) and 2 levels of incrimination value of wiretap evidence (exonerating and incriminating). Results support a pro- and antidefendant bias rather than a differential cognitive ability model. Exp II, involving 160 undergraduates, determined whether repeating and emphasizing judge's instructions to jurors to disregard inadmissible evidence would reduce authoritarians' tendency to incorporate it. Authoritarian Ss were more likely to convict, especially in the presence of incriminating evidence, regardless of its admissibility and judge's emphasis. The 2 studies suggest that authoritarians are characterized by an antidefendant bias that influences their responses to trial evidence and that is not easily overcome by emphasizing the judge's instructions. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).