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66 Brook. L. Rev. 991 (2000-2001)
Emotions in Jurors' Decisions

handle is hein.journals/brklr66 and id is 1001 raw text is: ARTICLES EMOTIONS IN JURORS' DECISIONS* Reid Hastie I. THE JUROR'S DECISION-MAKING PROCESS Most conceptions of the juror's decision assume that the process is primarily cognitive, even rational in character. Descriptive psychological theories all focus on cognitive information processing functions and none of the currently popular models include an explicit account of the role of sentiments, moods, emotions, and passions in the process. Normative theories also assert that legal decisions should be predominantly rational. For example, the Advisory Committee's note on Federal Rule of Evidence 403 comments that one consideration in deciding whether to exclude evidence should be to avoid unfair prejudice, defined as an undue tendency to suggest decision on an improper basis, commonly, though not necessarily, an emotional one.' There is an apparent contradiction between the conception of the ideal juror as a logical reasoning machine and also as a source of community attitudes, sentiments, and moral precepts. Robert Solomon noted this discrepancy when he commented that [tihe idea that justice requires emotional detachment, a kind of purity suited ultimately to angels, ideal @2001 Reid Hastie. All Rights Reserved. t Professor of Psychology and Director of the Center for Research on Judgment and Policy, University of Colorado. Funding for the empirical studies described in this paper was provided by the National Science Foundation (most recently from Grant No. SBR 9816458). The author would like to thank Nancy Pennington, Peter Tillers, Phoebe Ellsworth, and the participants in the Brooklyn Law School Interdisciplinary Conference on The Jury in the Twenty-First Century for much useful advice on the subject of this paper. Of course, the contents of the paper should be attributed only to the author. FED. R. EVID., 403, Advisory Note.

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