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Complex Scientific Testimony: How Do Jurors Make Decisions?

Complex Scientific Testimony: How Do Jurors Make Decisions? Critics of the civil jury system question whether jurors can adequately evaluate complex expert testimony. Based on current models of research in persuasion, we hypothesized that when expert testimony is complex, factors other than content will influence persuasion. Participants, serving as mock jurors, watched a videotaped trial in which two scientists provided evidence on whether PCBs could have caused a plaintiff’s illness. The complexity of the expert’s testimony and the strength of the expert’s credentials were varied in a 2 × 2 factorial design. After watching the videotape, mock jurors rendered a verdict and completed a number of attitude measures related to the trial Overall, consistent with our prediction, we found that jurors were more persuaded by a highly expert witness than by a less expert witness, but only when the testimony was highly complex. When the testimony was less complex, jurors relied primarily on the content of that testimony, and witness credentials had little impact on the persuasiveness of the message. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Law and Human Behavior American Psychological Association

Complex Scientific Testimony: How Do Jurors Make Decisions?

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Publisher
American Psychological Association
Copyright
Copyright © 1996 American Psychological Association
ISSN
0147-7307
eISSN
1573-661X
DOI
10.1007/BF01498976
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Critics of the civil jury system question whether jurors can adequately evaluate complex expert testimony. Based on current models of research in persuasion, we hypothesized that when expert testimony is complex, factors other than content will influence persuasion. Participants, serving as mock jurors, watched a videotaped trial in which two scientists provided evidence on whether PCBs could have caused a plaintiff’s illness. The complexity of the expert’s testimony and the strength of the expert’s credentials were varied in a 2 × 2 factorial design. After watching the videotape, mock jurors rendered a verdict and completed a number of attitude measures related to the trial Overall, consistent with our prediction, we found that jurors were more persuaded by a highly expert witness than by a less expert witness, but only when the testimony was highly complex. When the testimony was less complex, jurors relied primarily on the content of that testimony, and witness credentials had little impact on the persuasiveness of the message.

Journal

Law and Human Behavior – American Psychological Association

Published: Aug 1, 1996

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