Is Epistemic Status Gender-Biased? Gender As a Predictor of Testimonial Reliability Assessments in Violent Crimes

Bibliographic Data

ID21593239
AuthorsKlaudyna Horniczak (0000-0001-7488-0301, Jagiellonian University, corresponding author), Andrzej Porębski (0000-0003-0856-5500, Jagiellonian University), Izabela Skoczeń (0000-0003-3506-5974, Jagiellonian University)
Year2024
Volume37
Issue6
Pages1981-2008
Publication date2024-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0952-8059 • E-ISSN: 1572-8722
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s11196-023-10055-6
OpenAlexW4390951772
LanguageEN
References cited36

It is rather uncontroversial that gender should have no influence on treating others as equal epistemic agents. However, is this view reflected in practice? This paper aims to test whether the gender of the testifier and the accused of assault is related to the perception of a testimony’s reliability and the guilt of the potential perpetrator. Two experiments were conducted: the subjects (n = 361, 47% females, 53% males) assessed the reliability of the testifier in four scenarios of assault accusation, in which the only difference was the gender of the people presented. During the study, we have observed dependencies of gender and ascription of reliability, but only marginal differences in guilt attribution. The results of our research may constitute an argument for the existence of different epistemic status endowed on people depending on their gender and existing gender stereotypes. Our results suggest that gender bias may be situated at a deeper level than the linguistically triggered representation

Ascription · Attribution · Epistemology · False accusation · Gender bias · Political science · Situated · Testimonial · Computer Science · Deception detection and forensic psychology · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics · Medicine · Psychology · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access