Shaping Juror Attitudes: Effects of Requesting Different Damage Amounts in Personal Injury Trials
Malouff, John; Schutte, Nicola S.; Malouff, John; Psychology Department, University of Southern Colorado; Schutte, Nicola S.; Department of Behavioral, Sciences Nova University
Журнал:
The Journal of Social Psychology
Дата:
1989
Аннотация:
AbstractIn almost every personal injury trial the injured person's attorney must decide how much to ask the jury to award in damages. Research regarding attitude change in other settings indicates that the more extreme the persuading message is, the more attitude change occurs. This tendency suggests that the more money requested in damages, the more a jury will award. In an analogue experiment of juror behavior, the effect of amount of damages requested on amount awarded was examined. One hundred fifty-eight American college students read two detailed case summaries of real personal injury cases, with each summary containing one of four amounts requested for damages by the injured person's attorney. The results showed a significant effect of amount requested upon the amount awarded. The effect was consistent across cases and across injured persons of different sexes and ethnic groups.
310.1Кб