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Dixon et al.'s study 2002
Effects of regional accent, race and crime…
Dixon et al.'s study 2002
Effects of regional accent, race and crime type on attributions of guilt
Background
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-Participants listen to tape conversation where each alleged suspect pleaded innocence - then they had to decide
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-Showed the effect of accent depends on type of crime (Australian more common for assault [blue colour crime], RP theft [white collar crime]
-1983 study by Seggie in Australia (effect of Birmingham accents, British received pronunciation [RP], Broad Australian, Asian)
Dixon wanted to further Seggie's accent research in legal context - Brummie [Birmingham] accent in particular (Brummie - bad reputation, Dixon et al. predicted Brummie suspect would receive higher rating of guilt than Standard British
Aims
Main aim: to test the hypothesis that a Brummie accent suspect would receive higher rating of guilt than suspect with standard accent
See whether race or type of crime would make any difference to how the Brummie or standard speaking suspect was judged
Procedure
- Tape: police officer interrogating young man pleading innocence of crime (different crimes were changed/manipulated by having different tape versions involving armed robbery [blue collar crime] & another with cheque fraud [white collar crime]
- The race of suspect [black or white] manipulated by changing the inspector's description of the suspect in the script to either describe a white or black suspect
- Participants listened to 2 min recorded conversation based on transcript of interview that happened in Birmingham police station 1995 (middle aged police inspector played by standard accent student in his 40s) (suspect played by student in 20s who could speak in both Brummie and standard accent - played both suspects)
- Having listened to their version of the tape, participants completed a rating scale where they rated the suspect on a 7 point bipolar scale from innocent to guilty
Conclusions
-Attributions of guilt are generally made in a far richer evidential context than provided here & it is likely that strength of evidence will moderate any effect of an accent on legal decision making
-Evidence from this study did support previous research by Seggie in Australia which led Dixon et al. to ask the question: 'do some accents sound guiltier than others?'
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Results
-Analysis of the results showed a significant effect of the suspect's accent on the attribution of guilt by the participants
-There was a 3-way interaction of accent, race & crime type with the Brummie accented, black suspect & blue collar crime condition receiving significantly higher guilt ratings than other 5 conditions
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Method
Study conducted in psychology department @ University College Worcester (now University of Worcester)
Design
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Comparing a Brummie accented suspect with standard accented suspect & comparing black vs white suspects & blue collar vs white collar crime
Sample
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-Or had grown up used to hearing the accent in a variety of contexts (so would not have the same negative biases against the accent)
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119 white undergraduate students (24 male, 95 female; mean age 25.2; participated as part of their course requirements)