Faith in thy threshold

Curley, Lee J.; Murray, Jennifer; MacLean, Rory; Laybourn, Phyllis; Brown, David

Abstract

The current study focussed on the decision making processes of jurors. The study investigated how jurors make a decision, if they integrated information within their decision making process, and if cue utilisation thresholds promoted confirmation bias. To do this, 108 participants listened to one of nine cases. These participants were asked to give a likelihood of guilt rating after each piece of evidence, to state what was the last piece of information they needed to make a decision and give a final verdict at the end of a trial. The results highlighted that threshold decision making was being utilised, that information integration may allow thresholds to be reached and that thresholds may promote confirmation bias to reduce cognitive dissonance. In conclusion, this suggests that jurors integrate information until they reach a leading verdict, then the evaluation of information is distorted to support the leading threshold. Implications relate to von Dire and legal instructions.

Citation

Curley, L. J., Murray, J., MacLean, R., Laybourn, P., & Brown, D. (2018). Faith in thy threshold. Medicine, Science and the Law, 002580241879106. https://doi.org/10.1177/0025802418791062

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 4, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Jul 31, 2018
• Publication Date: Jul 31, 2018
• Deposit Date: Aug 27, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 27, 2018
• Journal: Medicine, Science and the Law
• Print ISSN: 0025-8024
• Electronic ISSN: 2042-1818
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 002580241879106
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0025802418791062
• Keywords: Decision Science; Confirmation Bias; Information Integration; Diffusion Threshold Model; Juror Decision Processes.
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/1283655
• Contract Date: Aug 22, 2018