Principles in judgment/decision making research pertinent to legal proceedings

Principles in the judgment/decision making literature relevant to the legal community are reviewed. These principles are divided into four areas: the decision process itself, communicating a judgment to others, evaluating a decision, and possible ways of “debiasing.” Several influences on the decision process are enumerated, among them being insufficient consideration of base rates, selective memory for relevant material, the framing of the decision in either the domain of losses or the domain of gains, and consideration of the “cues to causation.” Particular attention is paid to suboptimal consideration of covariation information. In communicating the decision to others the two most prominent findings are overconfidence in expressing one's decision and the inability to describe accurately the bases of one's decision. Evaluating a decision is plagued by two biases. The first is the hindsight bias. After an event has occurred we tend to exaggerate how easily we could have predicted the event beforehand. The second is the outcome bias. We tend to base our evaluation of the decision upon the evaluation of the outcome. Among the debiasing techniques mentioned are the admonition to “consider the opposite” of the preferred option, the reduction of reliance on memory, and the use of decision aids.     

How and when to correct for juror hindsight bias in mental health malpractice litigation: Some preliminary observations

This article examines the hindsight bias in the context of mental health malpractice litigation, analyzes various legal mechanisms for dealing with the bias, and discusses whether the law should strive for debiasing in all mental health malpractice cases.     

Central-place foraging by Rattus norvegicus on a radial maze

We studied central-place foraging in rats (Rattus norvegicus) by placing food items that varied in size and weight at the ends of a 4-arm radial maze. In Experiments 1-3, rats increasingly tended to carry food to the center of the maze as the size of those items increased. Very large food items often were hoarded in the center. Rats consumed food faster on the arms than in the center, and rats traveled faster when carrying food than when not. Blocking arm entrances increased travel time between the center and the arms and decreased food carrying at every item weight except the largest. In Experiments 4-6, important conditions that influence the degree of food-carrying behavior were discovered; these were the intersection of maze arms, the presence of a conspecific, and the use of open vs. closed maze arms.     

Song frequency as a cue for recognition of species and individuals in the field sparrow (Spizella pusilla)

Estimate the amount of frequency variation that affected individual and species recognition by song in territorial male field sparrows with field playbacks of neighbors' songs lowered in frequency in 6 increments between 324 and 1296 Hz. Males gave strong responses to neighbors' songs that had been lowered by about 400 Hz, which is about 11% of the mean midfrequency in field sparrow song. Territorial responses were eliminated when neighbors' songs were lowered by more than about 900 Hz. Thus, there is a fairly narrow range of frequencies within which field sparrow songs can vary while functioning in communication. Ss' responses appear to be constrained by the normal range of song frequency variation within the species, but the range of variability within songs of individuals did not influence the degree of frequency shift required to render neighbors' songs unfamiliar.     

Counseling Gay Men with AIDS: Human Dimensions

As the incidence of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) becomes more widespread, individuals with AIDS will present themselves for counseling in both public and private settings, and counselors will need to become familiar with the psychological manifestations of the AIDS virus. This article provides case material that demonstrates the emotional responses of gay men to AIDS. Specifically, denial, anger, rage, guilt, and shame are discussed with an emphasis on the human dimensions of AIDS.     

Relationship of racial stressors to blood pressure responses and anger expression in black college students

The physiological effects of racism, as a stressor, were examined as they related to blood pressure (BP) and anger experiences in Black college students. Current research has failed to consider the stressful effects of racism as a factor contributing to the higher incidence of essential hypertension among Blacks. Twenty-seven Black college students viewed three excerpts showing racist situations involving Blacks; anger-provoking, nonracist situations; and neutral situations. After each scene, BP was taken, and a mood checklist was administered. The Framingham Anger Scale and the Anger Expression Scale were administered. Analyses revealed that BP significantly increased during the presentation of racist stimuli but not of anger-provoking or neutral stimuli. Self-reports of state anger, as measured by the mood checklist, were significant for both the anger-provoking and racist stimuli. BP scores were significantly correlated to the two trait anger measures. Exposure to racist stimuli was associated with BP increases among Blacks. Such cumulative exposure to racism may have important implications for the etiology of essential hypertension.     

Cross-sex comparisons: A word of caution

A cross-sex difference on one variable is often hypothesized to be related to a gender difference on a second variable. However, caution should be exercised in making such comparative hypotheses. We gathered the expected and actual examination grades for 168 female and 163 male college students. As in prior research, males had higher expectancies than females (p<.05). But analysis of the intrasex regression equations indicated that the relationship of expectancies to performance was different for women than it was for men. Thus, a cross-sex difference in expectancies did not correspond to a parallel difference in grades. This finding highlights the potential hazards of making certain cross-sex comparisons, and we argue for more caution in their application.     

Sex role orientations,attributions for achievement,and personal goals of Chinese youth

The role of women in the People's Republic of China has changed dramatically in the last 40 years. This study assesses what impact these changes have had on the attitudes of Chinese youth. The sample consisted of 164 subjects (77 men and 87 women) who completed the Bem Sex Role Inventory, the Objective Fear of Success Measure, a locus of control scale, and a personal goals questionnaire. They also evaluated a painting attributed to artists of different gender and status. The results indicate that the sex role orientations of Chinese students were similar to those of American students. On the Bem inventory, the direction of the sex differences on the sex role scales was the same for U.S. and Chinese students, but the latter had a sex role orientation that, in our culture, is regarded as more “traditional.” Chinese women were significantly more likely to endorse statements expressing fear of success than were Chinese men. On the locus of control measures, Chinese women were more likely than men to attribute their achievement successes to luck and failures to a lack of ability. The women students also attributed affiliation outcomes more to luck than did the men. The most important personal goal cited by both men and women was that of career success. Chinese men placed greater importance than women on achieving wealth, and their expectancy of actually becoming wealthy was higher. Finally, in an evaluation of a painting, Chinese men, but not the women, devalued a painting when it was supposedly the work of a female student artist.