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... failed to produce meaningful research and education (Weiss, 2011). Psychology, on the other hand, produced testable theories in laboratories in Germany and elsewhere in the late nineteenth century. Harvard's William James, aware of Europe's advances, imported a psychologist/physician from Freiberg in 1892. That man, Hugo Münsterberg (1863-1916; Fig. 1), often credited with founding applied psychology, would soon attempt to use psychological laboratory findings in criminal proceedings (Hale, 1980). In this article, we will examine Münsterberg's attempts to bring psychology into the legal arena in the early twentieth century. He was neither the first to study memory, perception, and ...
Context 2
... extensive series of purely methodological work will be required be- fore it can be thought of for application to the larger field of practice. Premature practical trials of a method while still imperfect are calculated merely to discredit it and to awaken prejudice against its further use… If we ask whether by the association-method of guilt-diagnostic is attained that stringent certainty which is a requi- site for its practical application on a large scale, the answer must be, at least for the present, an emphatic negative… It is still premature to discuss its forensic use." (Wigmore, 1909, p. 414, emphasis original). ...
Context 3
... had been relying on expert witnesses, including alienists (psychiatrists), in nineteenth century Europe and America, best exem- pli fi ed in criminal trials at London's “ Old Bailey ” (Eigen, 1995). Judges considered psychiatric expertise an acceptable source of specialized knowledge. While psychiatry had little to offer beyond the classi fi cation of insanity, witnesses opined on a variety of civil and criminal matters. Meaningful connections could be made between psychopathological conditions and either culpability or capacity, but only on a folk- psychological basis; that is, articulating commonsense beliefs about insane members of society. Still, the young sciences of psychiatry, neurology, and psychology were poised to provide more substantial contributions in the forensic arena. As neurologist S. Weir Mitchell observed while addressing his psychiatric colleagues in 1894, asylum doctors had isolated themselves and failed to produce meaningful research and education (Weiss, 2011). Psychology, on the other hand, produced testable theories in laboratories in Germany and elsewhere in the late nineteenth century. Harvard's William James, aware of Europe's advances, imported a psychologist/physician from Freiberg in 1892. That man, Hugo Münsterberg (1863 – 1916; Fig. 1), often credited with founding applied psychology, would soon attempt to use psychological laboratory fi ndings in criminal proceedings (Hale, 1980). In this article, we will examine Münsterberg's attempts to bring psychology into the legal arena in the early twentieth century. He was neither the fi rst to study memory, perception, and the behavior of witnesses nor the only one doing it at the time (Bornstein & Penrod, 2008). But his fl air for publicity and capturing the zeitgeist of American culture render him a worthy subject of study. We will describe some of Münsterberg's work, placing it in the context of the admissibility of expert testimony, rather than examining the details of his fi ndings. A thorough review of his career has been provided by Hale (1980), and his biography and detailed review of his work by his daughter Margaret Münsterberg (1922). Hugo Münsterberg was born in 1863 in the east Prussian city of Danzig. He was the third of four boys of Moritz, a lumber merchant, and Anna, an artist (Münsterberg, 1922). In his early years, he was more enamored of poetry than science, but settled on medicine. His plan was altered after he attended the lectures of the psychologist Wilhelm Wundt in 1883. This sparked his interest and psychology became his priority. Wundt was instrumental in establishing psychology as a distinct fi eld and was the fi rst to adopt the label of psychologist . He found his way in Wundt's laboratory at the University of Leipzig as a research assistant. Generally regarded as the founder of experimental psychology, Wundt had established the fi rst formal ...
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Citations
... In conclusione, la studiosa dichiara di aver assunto la definizione generale di psicotecnica di Hugo Munsterberg , ritenuto -non senza qualche distinguo critico -, fondatore della psicologia forense e applicata (Lombardo, Pompili, Mammarella, 2002;Munsterberg, 1914;Sporer, 2008;Weiss, Xuan, 2015), come «fdomplesso di applicazione dei dati psicologici scientifici» (De Marchi, 1923-24, p. 42). ...
Il lavoro espone, succintamente e seguendo la progressione argomentativa del testo, il contenuto della parte seconda della tesi di laurea di taglio sperimentale discussa da Silvia De Marchi nel 1924, dal titolo "Contributi alla psicologia giudiziaria". Oggetto di queste sue ricerche furono la diagnosi di imputabilità (Tatbestandsdiagnostik), trattata con il metodo associativo (parola-stimolo / parola-reazione), e la diagnosi di menzogna e sincerità, affrontata col metodo pneumografico ideato da Vittorio Benussi. Indirettamente, si renderà conto degli albori della psicologia applicata nell’Ateneo patavino, mai indagati a fondo finora e, direttamente, sarà ulteriormente illuminato il ruolo e il contributo della De Marchi alla nascente psicologia scientifica italiana, che permane tuttora adombrato dal collega e poi compagno di vita, Cesare Musatti. / The work deals with the second part of the experimental thesis defended by Silvia De Marchi in 1924, entitled “Contributions to forensic psychology”. The object of her studies was the “diagnosis of imputability” (Tatbestandsdiagnostik), faced with the associative method (word-stimulus / word-reaction), and the diagnosis of lying and sincerity, addressed with the pneumographic method created by Vittorio Benussi. Indirectly, we described the dawn of applied psychology at the University of Padua, never been investigated so far and, directly, we shed more light on De Marchi’s role and contribution to the birth of Italian scientific psychology, which still remains overshadowed by her colleague and subsequently husband, Cesare Musatti.
... Clearly, his collection of essays assembled in a monograph has greatly influenced American and English writers on eyewitness testimony up to the present time. However, celebrating Münsterberg as the "founder" of applied psychology in general, and of legal psychology in particular, does not do justice to the historical, intellectual, and societal context in central Europe where his ideas were born (noteworthy exceptions are Doyle, 2005, andWeiss &Xuan, 2015). There is an excellent historical summary of Münsterberg's work on applied psychology, which includes a chapter on eyewitness testimony and deception (Hale, 1980). ...
... Clearly, his collection of essays assembled in a monograph has greatly influenced American and English writers on eyewitness testimony up to the present time. However, celebrating Münsterberg as the "founder" of applied psychology in general, and of legal psychology in particular, does not do justice to the historical, intellectual, and societal context in central Europe where his ideas were born (noteworthy exceptions are Doyle, 2005, andWeiss &Xuan, 2015). There is an excellent historical summary of Münsterberg's work on applied psychology, which includes a chapter on eyewitness testimony and deception (Hale, 1980). ...
The history of the psychology of eyewitness testimony cannot be adequately understood without taking the respective legal systems, that is inquisitorial versus adversarial system, into account. Across all periods, questions regarding the accuracy of testimony, its suggestibility, and intentional distortions in false accusations become apparent. We describe the history of the experimental psychology of testimony in Germany from the beginning of the 20th century until the time after the second world war. Louis William Stern and Otto Lipmann conceived and established a broad conception of Aussagepsychologie (psychology of report), attracting the collaboration of lawyers, pedagogues, and scholars from other disciplines to conduct laboratory and staged event experiments. They were successful in institutionalizing psychology and law by organizing interdisciplinary conferences, founding a journal, and testifying as experts in court. When appearing as experts, they encountered strong rivalry from psychiatrists. We also sketch some of the problems psychologists in Germany faced during the second world war. In our discussion, we stress the importance of legal, contextual, and sociocultural factors affecting both research outcomes and expert testimony, which appear to be parallel to present-day concerns. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
... This line of reasoning has become increasingly relevant amidst the popularity of television programmes which make the use of forensic techniques in criminal investigations seem nearly infallible. Prosecutors have attributed the jury's unrealistic expectations of crime-solving to such portrayals and have reported concerns that jurors may discredit prosecutions that seem thin on science (Weiss and Xuan, 2015). Academics, on the contrary, fear that jurors may fail to properly evaluate the evidence provided and may blindly accept scientific testimony instead (Benforado, 2015). ...
Feature-comparison evidence has been introduced in court without sufficient scientific validation and has been at the heart of numerous miscarriages of justice. Juror assessment of such evidence and the efficacy of evidentiary instructions were examined through a mock jury experiment with case reports featuring either central or peripheral feature-comparison evidence. In a case-control design (N = 174), the test group was exposed to an evidentiary instruction about the ear print evidence presented in the first case report (adapted from R v Dallagher [2002] EWCA Crim 1903) whereas the control group did not receive such an instruction. The provision of this instruction resulted in a significant decrease in verdict severity with a large effect size. For the second case report (based on R v George (Barry) [2007] EWCA Crim 2722), all subjects were asked to return verdicts based on circumstantial evidence, gunpowder residue evidence and an evidentiary instruction about that gunpowder residue evidence. Verdict severity increased significantly after the provision of gunpowder residue evidence, followed by a subsequent reduction in verdict severity after the introduction of an evidentiary instruction. Furthermore, there was a significant difference in verdict severity between the test and control group, suggesting that the test group exhibited a scepticism effect brought about by the initial evidentiary instruction about ear print evidence. This study demonstrates that although mock jurors consider feature-comparison evidence a convincing indicator of guilt, the provision of an evidentiary instruction has the potential to educate jurors about the limitations of such evidence.
Introduction. The article is devoted to the issue of searching prerequisites for formation of postnonclassical psychology in the theory of H. Münsterberg. The purpose of the research is to analyze the foundations of H. Münsterberg's psychological system in the context of main criteria of postnonclassical science. Materials and Methods. The article is based on original H. Münsterberg's works, literature devoted to the analysis of his views and the phenomenon of postnonclassical science. The analytical and comparative-historical methods were employed. Results. The author proposes that development of Münsterberg's views can be represented as the transition from classical ("causal") to postnonclassical ("purposive") psychology. It is also stated that the final version of Münsterberg's psychology possesses numerous characteristics of postnonclassical science such as orientation to the historical sciences, treatment of man as a subject, relying on epistemological constructivism, special attention to the axiological features of science, interdisciplinarity, attention to the process of development/self-development, emphasis on the selection function of mind and the acknowledgement of the importance of applied forms of the science. Conclusions. In conclusion, the author states that scrutiny of theories preceding to the mature postnonclassical psychology is important in the context of the further critical analysis of its foundations. In particular, the analysis undertaken in this article indicates that the basis of postnonclassical psychology is idealistic psychology. © 2018 Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University Publisher. All rights reserved.
