Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Preface
- Part I Academic Cheating
- Part II Academic Excuses and Fairness
- Part III Authorship and Credit
- Part IV Confidentiality’s Limits
- Part V Data Analysis, Reporting, and Sharing
- Part VI Designing Research
- Part VII Fabricating Data
- Part VIII Human Subjects
- Part IX Personnel Decisions
- Part X Reviewing and Editing
- Part XI Science for Hire and Conflict of Interest
- 63 The Power of Industry (Money) in Influencing Science
- 64 The Impact of Personal Expectations and Biases in Preparing Expert Testimony
- 65 The Fragility of Truth in Expert Testimony
- 66 A Surprising Request from a Grant Monitor
- 67 Whoever Pays the Piper Calls the Tune
- 68 How to Protect Scientific Integrity under Social and Political Pressure
- 69 Commentary to Part XI
- Epilogue Why Is Ethical Behavior Challenging?
- Index
65 - The Fragility of Truth in Expert Testimony
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2015
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Preface
- Part I Academic Cheating
- Part II Academic Excuses and Fairness
- Part III Authorship and Credit
- Part IV Confidentiality’s Limits
- Part V Data Analysis, Reporting, and Sharing
- Part VI Designing Research
- Part VII Fabricating Data
- Part VIII Human Subjects
- Part IX Personnel Decisions
- Part X Reviewing and Editing
- Part XI Science for Hire and Conflict of Interest
- 63 The Power of Industry (Money) in Influencing Science
- 64 The Impact of Personal Expectations and Biases in Preparing Expert Testimony
- 65 The Fragility of Truth in Expert Testimony
- 66 A Surprising Request from a Grant Monitor
- 67 Whoever Pays the Piper Calls the Tune
- 68 How to Protect Scientific Integrity under Social and Political Pressure
- 69 Commentary to Part XI
- Epilogue Why Is Ethical Behavior Challenging?
- Index
Summary
My research on topics related to psychology and law was inspired in large part by the belief that if judges are going to base their decision on assumptions about human behavior, as they often do, they should be informed by the best existing evidence from psychological science. Thus when I was first asked to be an expert witness, I regarded it as a great opportunity to provide the court with the best available empirical evidence on the question to be decided.
This turned out to be a lot more difficult than I had imagined. When sworn in, a witness is typically asked to swear to tell “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” The whole truth is almost always out of the question. If I could provide a written summary reviewing the research on a fairly narrow question, such as how a prior identification of a person from a series of mug shots influences a person’s later choice when faced with a lineup, I might be able to provide a pretty complete answer, although it would be full of qualifications and admissions that I just don’t know about the effects of numerous third variables that have not yet been studied. Nonetheless, I would be satisfied that I had written a valid scientific summary.
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- Chapter
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- Ethical Challenges in the Behavioral and Brain SciencesCase Studies and Commentaries, pp. 202 - 204Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2015