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A28 SCIENCE
Saturday 2 March 2019
Science Says: People tend to believe informants like Cohen

By SETH BORENSTEIN dition of a jailhouse infor-
AP Science Writer mant. Informants "acknowl-
WASHINGTON (AP) — We edge that they have done
tend to believe informants misdeeds and say 'now you
like Michael Cohen, stud- should believe me.' That
ies show and psychologists seems to me what Cohen
say. did," Neuschatz said. And
It doesn't matter if the per- then people think "no one
son is behind bars or has would be admitting to do-
confessed to lying, as Co- ing something they didn't
hen has: Juries usually be- do, so they must be telling
lieve an informant, said Jef- the truth," Neuschatz said.
frey Neuschatz, a University In court, when jurors think
of Alabama psychologist an informant has little to
who has studied jailhouse gain or even is hurt by com-
informants' testimony for a ing forward, they are more
decade. likely to believe the person,
Cohen, President Don- the experts said.
ald Trump's former law- That's why University of
yer, pleaded guilty last Massachusetts psychology
year to lying to Congress. professor Robert Feldman,
On Wednesday, he gave who has studied every-
harsh testimony about In this Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019, file photo, Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former day lying for 30 years, said
Trump to a U.S. House com- personal lawyer, reacts as he finishes a day of testimony to the House Oversight and Reform Com- he believes Cohen: "He
mittee, where he found a mittee, on Capitol Hill in Washington. doesn't have much to gain
receptive audience from Associated Press by lying," he said. He said
Democrats and drew the when he evaluates people,
ire of Republicans who la- of Cohen, he's given a "People tend to take what trust informants who re- his key question is: "What
beled him a felon and a sort of confession here," other people say at face peatedly testify against would the lie get you?"
liar. Trump, who had earlier Neuschatz said. value," said Saul Kassin, a defendants. The jurors were Cohen has already been
called Cohen a "Rat" on "I think he came across as psychology professor at told the informants had tes- sentenced to three years
Twitter, slammed the testi- very credible, whether he is John Jay College of Crimi- tified as many as 20 times, in prison, though he could
mony as "fake." or not," he added. nal Justice. and the panelists usually have it reduced later at the
Neuschatz said Cohen fits The theory is that people Jurors sometimes even dis- believed their testimony. request of prosecutors be-
in with the informants he tend to believe others — regard their own biases, Another of his mock jury cause of cooperation.
has studied. And "people called "a truth bias" — un- Neuschatz said. tests showed convictions There is one added con-
almost reflexively believe less they are given a reason He did studies with mock ju- jumped from 30 percent fusing factor in the Cohen
confessions. In the case not to, he said. rors who said they wouldn't to 62 percent with the ad- case: politics. q

Scientists see evidence of underground

lakes system on Mars

By FRANK JORDANS other. have been connected to
Associated Press The notion of water on the underground lakes.
BERLIN (AP) — Scientists say Mars has long fascinated The researchers also saw
images of craters taken by scientists because of the signs of minerals such as
European and American possibility that the planet clay on Mars that would
space probes show there may have once harbored have required long peri-
likely once was a planet- similar conditions to those ods of exposure to water
wide system of under- that allowed life to devel- to form. Ralf Jaumann, a
ground lakes on Mars. op on Earth. Patches of ice planetary scientist at the
Data collected by NASA previously spotted on Mars German Aerospace Cen-
and ESA probes orbiting the provide tantalizing hints of ter who wasn't directly in-
red planet provide the first a watery past for the arid volved in the study, said
geological evidence for an world. such sites are a good start-
This undated photo provided by the European Space Agency, ancient Martian ground- Researchers said flow chan- ing point for future Mars
ESA, shows the surface of the Mars.
Associated Press water system, according nels, pool-shaped valleys landers to search for signs
to a study by researchers and fan-shaped sediment of ancient life.
in Italy and the Netherlands deposits seen in dozens of However Jack Mustard,
published in the Journal of kilometers-deep craters in a professor of geological
Geophysical Research. Mars' northern hemisphere sciences at Brown Univer-
Francesco Salese, one of would have needed water sity who also wasn't part
the scientists involved, said to form. of the study, questioned
in an email Friday that the Co-author Gian Gabriele the paper's claims, saying
findings confirm earlier Ori said an ocean some he didn't see evidence of
models and smaller-scale scientists speculate Mars underground lakes in the
studies, and that the un- may once have had be- data. "But I am probably
derground lakes may have tween three and four bil- just a skeptical Martian," he
been connected to each lion years ago could even added.q