Accentuation of bias in jury decision-making. (January 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Takada, Masami; Murata, Koji
• Is Part Of: Group processes and intergroup relations. Volume 17:Number 1(2014:Jan.)
• Page Start: 110
• Page End: 124
• Publication Date: 2014-01
• Subjects: accentuation of bias -- decision-making -- deliberation style -- jury -- majority process; Intergroup relations -- Periodicals; Social groups -- Periodicals; 302.305
• DOI: 10.1177/1368430213490210
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1368-4302

Abstract

We investigated the bias accentuation effect of group decision-making. Previous studies have shown that individuals were more likely to endorse the guilty verdict when the prosecution evidence was presented in a temporal order (story condition) than when the same evidence was presented in a nontemporal order (witness condition). We expected that group deliberation would accentuate this biasing effect of evidence order through a majority-wins process. Sixty-six 3-person groups engaged in a mock jury task either in the story or witness condition. As predicted, group deliberation accentuated the difference in the verdict judgments between the two conditions through a majority-wins/leniency asymmetry process. This accentuation effect was not moderated by how juries deliberated (evidence-driven vs. verdict-driven). Some theoretical and practical implications of these findings were discussed.