ERIC Number: ED305691
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1989-May
Pages: 16
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Another Look at Vividness in the Trial of Two Vietnamese Brothers.
Bresnahan, Mary I.
A study examined the trial of People v. Tien (two Vietnamese brothers named defendants in an assault case). In order to understand better the relationship between supportive speech acts and credibility, the study examined how the attorney elicited vivid testimony. One of the ways in which an attorney yields control of testimony to a witness is by asking indirect, open-ended questions. This floor-yielding strategy suggests to jurors that the attorney has total confidence in the competence of the witness to speak for her/himself. When an attorney presses for additional information (regardless of the form of the question), the time of the turn-at-talk is increased similarly, suggesting confidence in the ability of the witness to deliver credible testimony. Given the preponderance of evidence against them, coupled with ineffective verbal and nonverbal communication skills in English, conviction would not have been a surprising outcome. The defense plan was grounded on a vivid refutation of all motives for the crime that had been suggested by the prosecutor. The defendant and attorney collaborated in an incremental team presentation of detailed images of discrimination and difficulty of adjustment to life in the United States which made the assault charges seem ludicrous and the claim of self-defense credible. Testimony demonstrated incongruity between the prosecution's and the defendants' explanations. Microanalysis of the legal transcript supports the claim that vividness effect has psychological reality and that vivid events have the power to influence subsequent judgments. (Fifteen references are attached.) (RAE)
Publication Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A