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Social cognitive processes explain bias in juror decisions.

ABSTRACT: Jury decisions are among the most consequential social decisions in which bias plays a notable role. While courts take measures to reduce the influence of non-evidentiary factors, jurors may still incorporate biases into their decisions. One common bias, crime-type bias, is the extent to which the perceived strength of a prosecutor's case depends on the severity of the crime. Moral judgment, affect and social cognition have been proposed as core processes underlying this and other biases. Behavioral evidence alone has been insufficient to distinguish these explanations. To identify the mechanism underlying crime-type bias, we collected functional magnetic resonance imaging patterns of brain activation from mock jurors reading criminal scenarios. Brain patterns from crime-type bias were most similar to those associated with social cognition (mentalizing and racial bias) but not affect or moral judgment. Our results support a central role for social cognition in juror decisions and suggest that crime-type bias and cultural bias may arise from similar mechanisms.

SUBMITTER: Castrellon JJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9949508 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Social cognitive processes explain bias in juror decisions.

Castrellon Jaime J JJ Hakimi Shabnam S Parelman Jacob M JM Yin Lun L Law Jonathan R JR Skene Jesse A G JAG Ball David A DA Malekpour Artemis A Beskind Donald H DH Vidmar Neil N Pearson John M JM Skene J H Pate JHP Carter R McKell RM

Social cognitive and affective neuroscience 20230201 1

Jury decisions are among the most consequential social decisions in which bias plays a notable role. While courts take measures to reduce the influence of non-evidentiary factors, jurors may still incorporate biases into their decisions. One common bias, crime-type bias, is the extent to which the perceived strength of a prosecutor's case depends on the severity of the crime. Moral judgment, affect and social cognition have been proposed as core processes underlying this and other biases. Behavi ...[more]

PMID: 36264228

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Project description:BackgroundCelebrities can have substantial influence as medical advisors. However, their impact on public health is equivocal: depending on the advice's validity and applicability, celebrity engagements can benefit or hinder efforts to educate patients on evidence-based practices and improve their health literacy. This meta-narrative analysis synthesizes multiple disciplinary insights explaining the influence celebrities have on people's health-related behaviors.MethodsSystematic searches of electronic databases BusinessSource Complete, Communication & Mass Media Complete, Humanities Abstracts, ProQuest Political Science, PsycINFO, PubMed, and Sociology Abstracts were conducted. Retrieved articles were used to inform a conceptual analysis of the possible processes accounting for the substantial influence celebrities may have as medical advisors.ResultsFourteen mechanisms of celebrity influence were identified. According to the economics literature, celebrities distinguish endorsed items from competitors and can catalyze herd behavior. Marketing studies tell us that celebrities' characteristics are transferred to endorsed products, and that the most successful celebrity advisors are those viewed as credible, a perception they can create with their success. Neuroscience research supports these explanations, finding that celebrity endorsements activate brain regions involved in making positive associations, building trust and encoding memories. The psychology literature tells us that celebrity advice conditions people to react positively toward it. People are also inclined to follow celebrities if the advice matches their self-conceptions or if not following it would generate cognitive dissonance. Sociology explains how celebrities' advice spreads through social networks, how their influence is a manifestation of people's desire to acquire celebrities' social capital, and how they affect the ways people acquire and interpret health information.ConclusionThere are clear and deeply rooted biological, psychological and social processes that explain how celebrities influence people's health behaviors. With a better understanding of this phenomenon, medical professionals can work to ensure that it is harnessed for good rather than abused for harm. Physicians can discuss with their patients the validity of celebrity advice and share more credible sources of health information. Public health practitioners can debunk celebrities offering unsubstantiated advice or receiving inappropriate financial compensation, and should collaborate with well-meaning celebrities, leveraging their influence to disseminate medical practices of demonstrated benefit.

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Social cognitive processes explain bias in juror decisions.

Publications

Social cognitive processes explain bias in juror decisions.

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