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Essay 2 Legal Psychology
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Essay 2: biases in legal decision-making. Grade: 9.5
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1PSY3377 Legal Psychology
Assignment: Describe three biases that have been shown to influence legal decision making.
Assignment #: Second assignment
Word count: 772
Question
Describe three biases that have been shown to influence legal decision making.
Answer
In 2016 judge Aaron Persky sentenced a White Stanford undergraduate to six months for sexual
assault. A few weeks later, he sentenced a Mexican immigrant to three years for a similar crime
(Klausner, 2016; as cited in Wistrich & Rachlinski, 2017). Why did the judge make a
discrimination and are the decisions fair? From our judges we expect a fair decision that is free
from biases. Sometimes however, people might not be aware of a bias in their judgment. When
people are asked explicitly whether they think they have a bias, people tend to estimate that their
bias is low. However Implicit Association Tests show that people’s bias is generally higher than
they report when tested implicitly (Greenwald & Krieger, 2006). Biased decisions are more
likely to occur when the decision relies on one’s first instincts (intuition). It occurs rapid and
effortless with shallow cognitive processing. If judges rely on their intuition when making a
crucial decision, the decision might not be fair. Intuitive and emotional decisions can be erratic
and might not be relevant for the outcome of the case (Wistrich & Rachlinski, 2017). Biases can
thus play a role in legal decisions. In this essay I will identify and explain three biases that can
affect decision making in the courtroom.
The first bias that can affect the legal decision-making process is the ingroup-outgroup
bias. Sumner (1906; as cited in Forsyth, 2014) noted that humans are a specie that joins together
in groups. Another powerful tendency he identified, is the tendency to favor one’s own group.
On the other hand, there is derogation of the outgroup and feelings of contempt towards the
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