Kovera received the AP-LS Distinguished Contributions to Psychology and Law Award in 2025.[9] Other professional honors include the Distinguished Service to the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) Award (2014),[10] the AP-LS Outstanding Teaching and Mentoring in the Field of Psychology and Law Award (2004),[11] and the AP-LS Saleem Shah Early Career Award (2000).[12]
Education
Kovera received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology (with departmental honors) from Northwestern University (1984-1988) and her Doctorate in Social Psychology from the University of Minnesota (1988-1994).[5] As a graduate student working with Eugene Borgida,Kovera focused mainly on child's capabilities as witnesses in child sexual abuse trials.[13][14]
Kovera's research examines the assumptions the legal system makes about the behavior of "legal actors",such as attorneys,police officers,jurors,judges,and witnesses.[17] She has conducted work on varied topics in the field of psychology and law including expert witnesses,eyewitness identification,and jury selection.[18] As examples,her team has explored factors that affect judges’abilities to distinguish between legitimate and junk science,and the effectiveness of procedural safeguards against junk science.[19] Other work investigated adversarial allegiance––expert witnesses' propensity to assess the evidence in a way which benefits the party that hired them––and potential strategies for mitigating this bias.[20]
Kovera and her collaborators have studied eyewitness identification procedures and the advantages of using double-blind lineups,where the lineup administrator is blind to the identification of the suspect.[21][22] In other work,her team has examined how social psychological processes may affect jury verdicts. Such psychological processes include attitudes and beliefs,confirmation bias,[23] and implicit racial bias.[24]
Books
Cutler,B. L.,&Kovera,M. B. (2010). Evaluating eyewitness identification. Oxford University Press. ISBN:978-0-19-537268-7
Bottoms,B. L.,Kovera,M. B.,&McAuliff,B. D. (Eds.) (2002). Children,social science,and the law. Cambridge University Press.
Kovera,M. B. (Ed). (2017). The psychology of juries. American Psychological Association. ISBN:978-1-4338-2704-4
Kovera,M. B. &Cutler,B. L. (2013). Jury selection. Oxford University Press. ISBN:978-0-19-532301-6
Representative publications
Kovera,M. B. (2002). The effects of general pretrial publicity on juror decisions:An examination of moderators and mediating mechanisms. Law and Human Behavior,26(1),43-72.
Kovera,M. B. (2019). Racial disparities in the criminal justice system:Prevalence,causes,and a search for solutions. Journal of Social Issues,75(4),1139-1164.
Kovera,M. B. (2024). The role of suspect development practices in eyewitness identification accuracy and racial disparities in wrongful conviction. Social Issues and Policy Review,18(1),125-147.
Kovera,M. B.,&McAuliff,B. D. (2000). The effects of peer review and evidence quality on judge evaluations of psychological science:Are judges effective gatekeepers? Journal ofApplied Psychology,85(4),574-586.
Kovera,M. B.,Gresham,A. W.,Borgida,E.,Gray,E.,&Regan,P. C. (1997). Does expert psychological testimony inform or influence juror decision making? A social cognitive analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology,82(1),178-191.
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