by Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: For the witness preparing for trial testimony, there is one common piece of advice: Study your deposition. In preparation sessions, I will always stress this advice, noting that a thorough knowledge of the deposition is both your sword and shield during trial testimony. Not only does it avoid or blunt the […]
Overlearn Your Deposition Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: It is one of the earliest and most heartbreaking tactics that children learn: Because social connections are powerful, taking those connections away is a weapon. So kids are left out, not included, not talked to, ignored. Ostracism from one’s peers may be a passive form of aggression, but it is
Take a Broader View of Workplace Harassment Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: It is a common step on the road to trial or pretrial resolution: Have a mock trial! But as routine as that research step is, it is still never a small matter. The scope and scale of a mock trial varies widely, but it is not a small expense in either money or time.
Get the Maximum Out of Your Mock Trial Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Have you heard of a company called Cambridge Analytica? Well, chances are, they’ve not only heard about you, they know quite a bit about you. Until recent months, the company had been a little-known data analysis outfit based in London. But based on a number of reports, including a very informative recent
Understand How the Presidential Campaign Rewrote the Book on Persuasion Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: From the frame of mind of the company attorney, a whistle-blower can signal the risk of litigation, high verdicts, or costly fines. From the frame of mind of the executives and CEOs, the whistle-blower can signal disloyalty, a person who is out, not for justice, but for some kind of revenge. To maintain
Embrace the Whistle-blower Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: According to many recent reports, we now seem to be living in a “post-truth world.” With President Trump’s early statements, including some demonstrably false claims on his inauguration crowd-size as well as his relationship with the U.S. intelligence community, the phrase that seems to fit is the one that presidential advisor Kellyanne
Inoculate Against False Information Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Damned if it isn’t true: People who swear are more honest, and perceived as more persuasive. According to a recent Psyblog post, that is indeed what the research shows. The most recent study on the subject (Feldman et al., 2017) looked at both self-reports as well as an analysis of Facebook communications
Drop Your Filters…in a Few Safe Ways Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Most civil cases these days will end, not in a courtroom, but at a settlement table. Many will do so after just the right amount of time and resources invested during discovery to discover the case’s true worth. But for many other cases, that investment of time and resources won’t
Know (and Use) the Cognitive Biases of Mediation Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: If you would like more confidence, and if you’ve seen Amy Cuddy’s widely-viewed TED talk, then maybe you’ve tried the “power pose.” Legs apart, head straight and tall, hands on hips or arms raised above your head — it is a posture we often see people naturally adopt after winning
Don’t Trust Power Poses Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: In a research article now available The Jury Expert (Valez, Neal & Kovera, 2016), three experts in trial psychology provide an overview of the research on persuasion relating to expert witness testimony. For experts and those who hire them, the article along with several responses which follow the article are worth
Be a Persuasive Expert, at Both the Core and the Periphery Read More »