Statistical Designs & Analyses -- Likely Schedule of Class Events for Exam #1

University of Nebraska – Lincoln

The relationship of situated social cognition factors and consent to search perceptions in innocent suspects

The United States Constitution guarantees a number of rights to Americans, including the protection against unreasonable searches and seizures under the Fourth Amendment. This provision maintains that “[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause…” (U.S. Const. amend. IV). The courts were left to determine what constitutes an “unreasonable” search or “probable cause,” and they have taken a “totality of the circumstances” approach (Illinois v. Gates, 1983).

It is difficult to find statistics on the percentage of people who consent to a search; however, the state of Illinois produced analyses of traffic stops and consent searches therein and the rate of consent was around 90 percent (“Traffic stop”; “Illinois”). In addition, we know that many suspects consent to a search request, even if they have something to hide (Lichtenberg, 2000). A number of factors may exist that contribute to the decision to consent to a search; this paper contends that situated social cognition is another factor that is of significant import.

Situated social cognition (SSC) purports that “much cognitive activity operates directly on real-world environments” (Niedenthal, Barsalou, Winkielman, Krauth-Gruber, & Ric, 2005). This is a burgeoning subfield of psychological research with many interesting findings of late. For example, Niedenthal and colleagues (2005) found that head nodding could increase ratings of agreement with an argument or preference for a previously seen object. In addition, haptic sensations were shown to influence affect and play a role in judgments and decisions when Ackerman, Nocera, and Bargh (2010) found touch influences shoppers’ impressions of clothing.

Situated social cognition can be related to decision-making both literally and figuratively, such as in the instance of weight. Weight influences perceptions of distance and slope steepness, as well as the importance of a social issue (Proffitt, 2006; Ackerman, et al., 2010). Jostmann, Lakens, and Schubert (2009) studied the influences of weight in a figurative sense when they asked Dutch students to rate a variety of items. Participants gave higher ratings when they were using a weighted (2.29 pounds) versus non-weighted (1.45 pounds) clipboard.

A final germane study is that of Cesario, Plaks, Hagiwara, Navarrete, and Higgins (2010). They found different fight or flight responses are elicited depending on which options are available. In each study, words associated with “fight,” “flight,” or “neutral” appeared on a screen and measurements recorded latencies of reaction times to press a corresponding button. Participants in a small booth elicited shorter latencies for fight-related words and those in an open field reacted more quickly to “flight” words. Cesario and colleagues (2010) also found that fight responses are more likely in tight spaces, where there is no perceived escape.

SSC studies have shown that such variables often play a role in perceptions of a situation and decision-making within it. Though this area of research has rarely been applied to the realm of consents to search, it is reasonable to suggest it is relevant in these decisions. Situational or environmental variables may play a role in the increase or decrease of the likelihood of consent, potentially through coercive means. If this is the case, legal authority figures need to consider these variables as within the “totality of the circumstances” when requesting consent. The variables are also relevant to courts when deciding what safeguards must be in place to protect against unlawful searches and seizures and in evaluating the validity of consent.

The current research sought to examine factors related to consent to search perceptions and decisions. The study employed a cheating paradigm that encouraged participants to be dishonest so an authority figure could accuse them of cheating and ask to search their belongings. This research, in looking only at those who did not cheat and who consented to the search, examines the interaction of demographic variables and situated social cognition factors (room size and lighting) on perceptions of the search request. Approximately 93 percent of participants consented to the search, a number similar to that reported in the Illinois traffic reports (“Traffic stop”, “Illinois”). Consequently, it was not reasonable to study the effects of the SSC variables on decisions of whether or not to consent. Instead, the effects of these variables on perceptions of the consent decisions were examined, namely the freedom to refuse consent to the search request and voluntariness of the consent.

We hypothesized that gender differences would occur in perceptions of the search request and these would relate to the situated social cognition factors. In addition, following Cesario and colleagues (2010), we hypothesized that room size would be related to both voluntariness of consent and freedom to refuse consent, such that those in the larger room would give higher ratings of both voluntariness and freedom to refuse. The effects of lighting on social cognition have had little to no research. Therefore, we hypothesized that the relationship between lighting condition and search request perceptions would follow the pattern of room size, such that those in the lit condition would be more comfortable, thus giving higher ratings of both the freedom to refuse consent and voluntariness of consent. As a result, we hypothesized that those in the lit and large room condition would give the highest ratings for both dependent variables.