Abstract
In the legal system, jurors are asked to render a decision after the event in question has already occurred and the final outcome, typically negative, is known. This “after-the-fact” structure of the legal system makes jurors susceptible to a human judgment phenomenon known as hindsight bias. This study focused on reducing hindsight bias in a courtroom context by incorporating a debiasing strategy within the defense's closing argument. Subjects viewed one of three videotaped versions of plaintiff and defense closing arguments in a commercial litigation case (i.e., foresight condition, hindsight condition, and hindsight debiasing condition). Results indicate that the hindsight debiasing strategy was effective in reducing subject-juror hindsight bias.
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Stallard, M.J., Worthington, D.L. Reducing the Hindsight Bias Utilizing Attorney Closing Arguments. Law Hum Behav 22, 671–683 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025706823554
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025706823554