TY - JOUR PY - 2016// TI - Prejudice and terror management at trial: effects of defendant race/ethnicity and mortality salience on mock-jurors' verdict judgments JO - Journal of social psychology A1 - Leippe, Michael R. A1 - Bergold, Amanda N. A1 - Eisenstadt, Donna SP - 279 EP - 294 VL - 157 IS - 3 N2 - Following a mortality salience or control prime, Black, Hispanic, and White college students read a murder/carjacking or auto theft trial transcript in which the defendant belonged to their racial/ethnic group or one of the others. Black and Hispanic, but not White, mock-jurors discriminated, more frequently judging outgroup defendants guilty. Mortality salience affected judgments about outgroup, but not ingroup, defendants, heightening perceptions of guilt in the murder case and decreasing guilty verdict preferences in the theft case. Mortality salience may compel derogation of outgroup defendants who threaten the cultural worldview, but not of less threatening ingroup defendants. The effect, however, seems restricted to crimes like murder that can sustain death-related anxiety.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 0022-4545 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2016.1184128 ID - ref1 ER -