153 posts · 101,052 views
Doug Keene has a doctoral degree in Psychology and has worked as a trial consultant for the past 15 years. He is Past President of the American Society of Trial Consultants and has a full-service trial consulting practice. Twitter: @keenetrial
The Jury Room
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- January 27, 2012
- 07:02 AM
- 8,861 views
Pretrial publicity & bias: Take a look at the age of your jurors!
by Doug Keene in The Jury Room
Despite the Supreme Court ruling [Skilling v US] that pretrial publicity [PTP] does not bias the public perception and limit the right to a fair trial, most of us who have experienced the impact of pretrial publicity disagree. It is an accepted truism that older people are more conservative than younger people. So it’s interesting to [...]
No related posts.... Read more »
Ruva, C., & Hudak, E. (2011) Pretrial publicity and juror age affect mock-juror decision making. Psychology, Crime , 1-24. DOI: 10.1080/1068316X.2011.616509
- December 16, 2011
- 07:02 AM
- 3,033 views
Was Sonia Sotomayor right about female judges?
by Doug Keene in The Jury Room
One of our early posts on this blog was a response to the furor over the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. Essentially, Sotomayor said that our decisions are a complex product of information and our life experiences. We believe this too and were taken aback that so much negative press resulted from her [...]
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A long tall Texan (and an auto repair shop tale)
... Read more »
Choi, S., Gulati, M., Holman, M., & Posner, E. (2011) Judging women. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies,, 8(3). info:/
- December 12, 2011
- 07:02 AM
- 2,947 views
Simple Jury Persuasion: On getting older and wiser!
by Doug Keene in The Jury Room
Growing older is not for sissies. ‘Some people’ have ‘senior moments’ and then tend to mock ourselves while we secretly worry that it signals the onset of dementia. Many trial lawyers avoid the older juror due to concerns about sleepiness, inability to track the evidence, or simply being checked out during the trial. It isn’t any [...]
Related posts:Simple Jury Persuasion: When to talk about racial bias and when to stay quiet
Simple Jury Persuasion: Got charisma?
Simple Jury Persuas........ Read more »
Worthy DA, Gorlick MA, Pacheco JL, Schnyer DM, & Maddox WT. (2011) With Age Comes Wisdom: Decision Making in Younger and Older Adults. Psychological Science. . PMID: 21960248
- July 20, 2011
- 07:02 AM
- 1,496 views
Does desire trump beliefs based on facts when evaluating scientific evidence?
by Doug Keene in The Jury Room
You probably know the answer to this question is yes. But the real answer is much more nuanced, which makes it so much more interesting. As it happens, if you are conflicted about the facts, you are more likely to be swayed by your desires than the facts themselves. When I was in graduate school, [...]
Related posts:Generation Y (aka the Millennials): Just the facts
Why facts don’t matter
Faulty Logic: Cannabis, psychosis and fish oil
... Read more »
Bastardi A, Uhlmann EL, & Ross L. (2011) Wishful thinking: belief, desire, and the motivated evaluation of scientific evidence. Psychological science, 22(6), 731-2. PMID: 21515736
- July 15, 2011
- 07:02 AM
- 1,419 views
Simple Jury Persuasion: Does Using an Interpreter Help or Hinder the Plaintiff?
by Doug Keene in The Jury Room
You’ve seen non-native English speakers struggle to be understood on the witness stand. Even native English speakers can be tough to understand due to speech dialects or thick styles of pronunciation. We know accents make us all work harder to comprehend and that most of us don’t like to work that hard. So what happens [...]
Related posts:Simple Jury Persuasion: Alpha and Omega Persuasion Strategies
Simple Jury Persuasion: Liking + Identification = Impact
Simple Jury Persuasion: “How........ Read more »
Shuman DW, Stokes L, & Martinez G. (2011) Stranger at the Gate: the Effect of the Plaintiff's use of an Interpreter on Juror Decision-Making. Behavioral sciences . PMID: 21618274
- January 19, 2011
- 07:02 AM
- 1,382 views
Martin Luther King, Jr. & Eliot Spitzer: On letting people off the hook [Part II]:
by Doug Keene in The Jury Room
Effron & Monin’s work on ambiguous and blatant transgressions has multiple applications for our work. In the past, we’ve blogged about Tiger Woods, Eliot Spitzer, and David Letterman. We want to take some time to discuss Effron & Monin’s work in the context of our prior writing on high profile falls from grace. (See Part [...]
Related posts:Martin Luther King, Jr. & Eliot Spitzer: On letting people off the hook [Part I]
Apology redux: Doing it right (and doing it wrong)
El........ Read more »
Effron DA, & Monin B. (2010) Letting people off the hook: when do good deeds excuse transgressions?. Personality and social psychology bulletin, 36(12), 1618-34. PMID: 20978222
- September 9, 2011
- 07:02 AM
- 1,347 views
Simple Jury Persuasion: Would “if it doesn’t fit, you must acquit” still work?
by Doug Keene in The Jury Room
Catchy slogans, phrases and themes have long been the hallmark of a persuasive courtroom presentation. But new research throws a question on whether they are as effective as we would like to think. Researchers compared the effect of both logos (brands) and slogans (phrases) on subjects. They discuss past research where showing the Apple logo resulted [...]
Related posts:Simple Jury Persuasion: “You know you want to trust me!”
Simple Jury Persuasion: I’m too smart to fall for that!
Simpl........ Read more »
Laran, J., Dalton A., & Andrade, E. (2011) The curious case of behavioral backlash: Why brands produce priming effects and slogans produce reverse priming effects. . Journal of Consumer Research. info:/
- February 9, 2011
- 07:02 AM
- 1,291 views
We pray with closed eyes
by Doug Keene in The Jury Room
We’ve talked about the “look inside yourself” strategy in case presentation before. It’s a deceptively simple strategy to minimize bias and to help jurors get in touch with their moral center rather than operating blindly on pre-existing assumptions. Okay, so part of it may be in the delivery by our client Richard– who has a [...]
Related posts:“I can look into his eyes and just tell he is lying”
Imagine and decrease bias
The Jury Expert for May........ Read more »
Caruso EM, & Gino F. (2011) Blind ethics: Closing one's eyes polarizes moral judgments and discourages dishonest behavior. Cognition, 118(2), 280-5. PMID: 21145538
- January 28, 2011
- 07:02 AM
- 1,266 views
Simply Resisting Persuasion: Digressing
by Doug Keene in The Jury Room
We’ve been doing our series on Simple Jury Persuasion for a while now and thought it might also be good to illustrate some of the most common ways we see people trying to resist persuasion (and then provide you ways to counter their resistance. Researchers (and even popular writers) have studied this topic for years. [...]
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Jacks, J., & Cameron, K. (2003) Strategies for Resisting Persuasion. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 25(2), 145-161. DOI: 10.1207/S15324834BASP2502_5
- February 25, 2011
- 07:02 AM
- 1,224 views
A screwdriver: The new addition to your trial toolbox? (We think not.)
by Doug Keene in The Jury Room
You truly never know what you’ll need in court. The unexpected happens. We are here to give you an edge. Back in May, 2010 we wrote about how people tend to remember things more when they are placed to their left. So we recommended you place your exhibits to the left while casually moving opposing [...]
Related posts:You’re on trial: Is it better to be an atheist or a black radical Muslim lesbian?
“Reactions vary along traditional partisan lines”
Secret Weapon: The Chairs in th........ Read more »
Oppenheimer, D., & Trail, T. (2010) Why leaning to the left makes you lean to the left: Effect of spatial orientation on political attitudes. Social Cognition, 28(5). info:/
- July 1, 2011
- 07:02 AM
- 1,223 views
Simple Jury Persuasion: Should we channel Donna Reed and James Dean?
by Doug Keene in The Jury Room
Really? Tell me it isn’t so. Okay. We are not so sure about this one. We’ve spent lots of time telling you about research that talks about being likable, how to be persuasive to juries, and the importance of jurors seeing you as “like” them but still true to yourself. So now, we have new research saying that [...]
Related posts:Simple Jury Persuasion: Using attraction to your advantage
Simple Jury Persuasion: Tilt your head. (no kidding)
Simple Jury Persuasion: She reminds me of........ Read more »
Tracy JL, & Beall AT. (2011) Happy guys finish last: The impact of emotion expressions on sexual attraction. Emotion (Washington, D.C.). PMID: 21604870
- April 8, 2011
- 07:10 AM
- 1,219 views
Stereotype fears and the lovely scent of vanilla
by Doug Keene in The Jury Room
Tammy sang it and we keep track of it just for you. Yes. Sometimes it’s hard to be a woman. Especially when we are reminded of the fact we are women. Internationally based researchers studied the impact of stereotype fears [especially when it comes to science, technology, engineering and math] on women’s intent to purchase [...]
Related posts:Redux: Sometimes it’s hard to be a woman (with appreciation to Tammy Wynette, Linda Ronstadt and Anne Reed)
“I didn’t know truth had a gender........ Read more »
KYOUNGMI LEE, HAKKYUN KIM, & KATHLEEN D. VOHS. (2011) Stereotype Threat in the Marketplace: Consumer Anxiety and Purchase Intentions. Journal of Consumer Research, 38(August). info:/
- March 11, 2011
- 07:01 AM
- 1,169 views
But, your honor! That witness was drunk!
by Doug Keene in The Jury Room
You’ve probably seen intoxicated witnesses on TV shows and thought they were ridiculous. And we’ve seen mock jurors dismiss witnesses they believed to be either drunk or high. But have we given the intoxicated witness a bum rap? New research says maybe we really have. Researchers from Florida, Texas and Arkansas took a look at [...]
Related posts:“I can look into his eyes and just tell he is lying”
Tattoos: When should you clean up your witness?
Witness Preparation: First impressions R........ Read more »
Schreiber Compo N, Evans JR, Carol RN, Villalba D, Ham LS, Garcia T, & Rose S. (2011) Intoxicated Eyewitnesses: Better than Their Reputation?. Law and human behavior. PMID: 21336684
- May 20, 2011
- 07:02 AM
- 1,167 views
Simple Jury Persuasion: Graphics, Statistics and the ‘weight of the evidence’
by Doug Keene in The Jury Room
A recent infographic created by the folks at Medical Billing and Coding is a terrific example of the persuasiveness of visual evidence. We are fans of visual evidence and have written about the appeal several times. Your graphic doesn’t have to be starchy and technical and, in fact, it’s better if it isn’t. The complete [...]
Related posts:Simple Jury Persuasion: The ‘attitude alignment’ effect & persuasion
Simple Jury Persuasion: KISS–Keeping it simple, simple…
Simple J........ Read more »
Joffe, H. (2008) The Power of Visual Material: Persuasion, Emotion and Identification. Diogenes, 55(1), 84-93. DOI: 10.1177/0392192107087919
- June 17, 2011
- 07:02 AM
- 1,167 views
Pretrial publicity & jury deliberations
by Doug Keene in The Jury Room
There was much discussion when the Supreme Court decided Jeffrey Skilling had gotten a fair trial despite extreme pre-trial publicity. The letter published in the Orlando Sentinel from a dismissed Casey Anthony trial juror raises the issue again. I was one of the 50 potential jurors excused from service on the Casey Anthony trial today because [...]
Related posts:Educating Jurors: How NOT to start deliberations
Deliberations & the role of the presiding juror
Simple Jury Persuasion: Count........ Read more »
Ruva, CL, & LeVasseur, MA. (2011) Behind closed doors: The effect of pretrial publicity on jury deliberations. . Psychology, Crime . info:/
- December 17, 2010
- 07:07 AM
- 1,163 views
Simple Jury Persuasion: Use Christian religious concepts to increase racial prejudice
by Doug Keene in The Jury Room
We’ve written a lot about racial biases in the courtroom. As regular readers of this blog know, we look for ways to mitigate the impact of racial biases. We believe in social justice. We also know (although we don’t like it much) that there are times when in the interests of advocacy, it is important [...]
Related posts:Simple Jury Persuasion: When to talk about racial bias and when to stay quiet
Simple Jury Persuasion: Countering jury decision-making biases
Simple Jury Persuasion: You l........ Read more »
Johnson, MK, Rowatt, WC, & LaBouff, J. (2010) Priming Christian religious concepts increases racial prejudice. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 1(2). info:/
- May 30, 2011
- 07:02 AM
- 1,163 views
Selfish meanies in your office
by Doug Keene in The Jury Room
There are likely people who are in your office as well as others who are just plain mean. This may not come as a surprise to you. And sometimes, they are the same people/person. That may not shock you either. We’ve written about civility and incivility before here, but this time we have brand new research [...]
Related posts:And now the second hundred…
... Read more »
Connelly, C., Zweig, D., Webster, J., & Trougakos, J. (2011) Knowledge hiding in organizations. Journal of Organizational Behavior. info:/10.1002/job.737
Harris KJ, Harvey P, & Booth SL. (2010) Who abuses their coworkers? An examination of personality and situational variables. The Journal of Social Psychology, 150(6), 608-27. PMID: 21166327
- August 3, 2011
- 07:02 AM
- 1,158 views
I’m disgusted (until I wash my hands and feel purified)
by Doug Keene in The Jury Room
It’s not just Pontius Pilate and Lady MacBeth, all of us feel better with clean hands. The disgust literature is everywhere these days. As it turns out, disgust is a powerful emotional motivator. Researchers recently attempted to see if being even minimally involved in activities that brought participants into contact with religious beliefs different from their own [...]
Related posts:Choosing to either disgust your jurors or tick them off
Eww! That is just disgusting! (but…very interest........ Read more »
Ritter, RS, & Preston, JL. (2011) Gross gods and icky atheism: Disgust responses to rejected religious beliefs. . Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. info:/
- March 2, 2011
- 07:02 AM
- 1,149 views
Revenge is best served cold
by Doug Keene in The Jury Room
What does that saying mean? An internet search yields the information that emotional detachment and planning (“cold blooded”) are best for taking revenge. [We need to take a moment here to remind you to not use proverbs that no one under 70 understands in the courtroom.] And this isn’t about how to get revenge anyway. It’s about [...]
Related posts:Better find something besides DNA & hard science to persuade the jury!
Inviting jurors to actually ‘speak the truth’ i........ Read more »
Gollwitzer, M., Meder, M., & Schmitt, M. (2010) What gives victims satisfaction when they seek revenge?. European Journal of Social Psychology. info:/
- September 28, 2011
- 07:02 AM
- 1,133 views
That juror is nodding—are they agreeing with me or with themself?
by Doug Keene in The Jury Room
It’s a common mistake. We see someone nodding and assume they are agreeing with us. And in the courtroom, that can be a serious error. Recent persuasion research puts even more evidence in the corner of being careful not to assume. As it happens, nodding can simply mean you are agreeing with your own internal dialogue [...]
Related posts:When the defendant texts the juror…
Power, Penises and the Role of the Presiding Juror
Excuse me, potential juror, but just how big is your amygdala?........ Read more »
Brinol, P., Petty, R., & Wagner, B. (2009) Body posture effects on self-evaluation: A self-validation approach. . European Journal of Social Psychology . info:/
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