Carlson K A, Russo J E
Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853-6201, USA.
J Exp Psychol Appl. 2001 Jun;7(2):91-103.
Predecisional distortion is jurors' biased interpretation of new evidence to support whichever verdict is tentatively favored as a trial progresses. In 2 experiments, students and prospective jurors distorted evidence from a mock trial. Further, the magnitude of prospective jurors' distortion was twice that of students. Consistent with previous research, distortion increased with juror confidence in whichever verdict was currently leading. In spite of clear instructions to ignore prior beliefs, general proplaintiff or prodefendant attitudes influenced the verdicts of prospective jurors, but not of students. These findings suggest that jury instructions should warn against not only premature decisions but also any tentative judgments, lest such opinions influence jurors' evaluations of subsequent evidence. Predecisional distortion in jury trials may lead to biased outcomes resulting from evidence order effects.
决策前的歪曲是指陪审员对新证据进行有偏见的解读，以支持随着审判进展而暂时倾向的任何一种裁决。在两项实验中，学生和准陪审员歪曲了模拟审判中的证据。此外，准陪审员的歪曲程度是学生的两倍。与先前的研究一致，歪曲程度随着陪审员对当前领先的裁决的信心增强而增加。尽管有明确指示要忽略先前的信念，但总体上支持原告或被告的态度影响了准陪审员的裁决，却没有影响学生的裁决。这些发现表明，陪审团指示不仅应警告不要过早做出决定，还应警告不要有任何初步判断，以免此类意见影响陪审员对后续证据的评估。陪审团审判中的决策前歪曲可能会因证据顺序效应而导致有偏见的结果。
