Abnormale und Verhaltenspsychologie

Are There Unconscious Influences on Judicial Decisions?

Abstract

Vladimir J. Konecni

The critique by Newell and Shanks (BBS, 2014) of much past work regarding unconscious influences on decision making is favorably discussed, generally speaking, in this opinion article. However, the authors’ unfortunate analytical omission of judicial decision making is critically highlighted from the standpoints of methodological feasibility, ecological validity, social importance, and the ready availability of a large quantitative-data and conceptual base on the behavior of many essential categories of legal decision makers, which was developed by Konecni and Ebbesen at the University of California, San Diego, in the period 1973-2000.