Public Attitudes Towards and Knowledge of Conditional Sentences

In one survey (the correlation survey, part 2), the correlation between penal attitudes and knowledge of conditional sentences was measured on the one hand and attitudes towards conditional sentences on the other. In the second survey (the experimental survey, part 1), participants were given information (short descriptions) about conditional sentences to measure the influence of this information (and hence knowledge) on attitudes while also taking into consideration the general penal attitude of participants.

Four distinct groups were differentiated: group 1 received additional information on the effectiveness of conditional sentences; group 2 received additional information on the nature of the conditional sentences; group 3 received additional information on both the nature and effectiveness of the conditional sentences while, finally, group 4 received no additional information (control condition).