Context bias as a factor in perceiving information in situations related to criminalistics

Introduction. The relevance of studying context bias in legal and forensic research is under consideration, the connection of the phenomenon of contextuality with the narrative and situational nature of the investigation being described. Materials and Methods. The model experiment involved 105 people (mostly senior students of law universities). The results of a survey of 211 Russian investigators were used. Results and Discussion. The influence of the relevant and irrelevant context of information related to evidence on the decision-making process is under study. The place of the considered phenomenon in the system of criminalistics is characterized. A system of factors which influence contextuality in the investigative process is given: the total amount of information to be processed, social conjuncture, the presence of personally-conditioned sympathies and antipathies, external pressure, combinatorial overload with available options for resolving a complex investigative situation, personal and collective experience of the investigator. Conclusions. The author provides an operational definition of context bias, characterizes general directions for neutralizing this cognitive distortion, which are reduced to either the development of criminalistics-based thinking or the continuation of the algorithmization of investigative activities.