By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: In the early Sixties as Adolf Eichmann’s Nazi war crimes trial was taking place in Jerusalem, the world was asking, was there something different about those who committed crimes on that scale, or were they just obeying orders? Just a few months later, a social scientist began a series of […]
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: It is one of those research findings you would expect to be true, like: “Studying improves performance” or “Happier people are more productive.” But it is reassuring to find that research supports the notion that legal professionals are less likely to exhibit bias based on gender. After all, it does
Expect Less Gender Bias from Professional Fact Finders Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: In the first of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean movies, the heroine of the story is demanding to be taken back to shore and invoking something called “The Pirate Code” to make her case. The pirate, Captain Barbossa, responds: First, your return to shore was not part of our negotiations nor our
To Address Implicit Bias, Rely on Rules Not Standards 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: As the juror sits in the jury box hearing the case, she is not just rationally deciding who has the better position. She is also applying and maintaining her own self-concept. The implicit question she is asking herself is, “Am I the kind of person who would approve or condemn this?”
Expect Jurors to See Themselves as More Moral than Average Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: During voir dire, the traditional questions designed to expose bias tend to focus on the existence or nonexistence of a biasing attitude or experience. Have you formed any beliefs about the defendant’s guilt or innocence? Do you believe drug companies are more concerned with profits rather than people? In truth, these
To Elicit Bias, Ask About Leaning Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: U.S. employment numbers were up 178,000 last month, causing many to see an improving economy. The month before that, the number was down by more than 66,000, causing many to fear a worsening economic picture. Truth is, that number routinely fluctuates month to month for a variety of reasons, and
Bring an End to ‘End Point Bias’ Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: The issue of “fake news” has been in the news — the actual news — a lot lately. The ease and speed of sharing via social networks has made it common for fake stories to be accepted, trusted, and passed around. One story, for example, tells of Trump protestors being
Link the New to the Known Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: There is a central fiction of our jury trial system, and voir dire in particular. That fiction is that bias is the exception, not the rule. When we treat bias as the aberration, affecting a relatively small handful in any jury pool, we fail to appreciate the ubiquity of these habits and shortcuts
Know Your Cognitive Biases Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: “Falsehood flies,” Jonathan Swift wrote, “and the truth comes limping after it.” Another version, attributed to Mark Twain, has the lie getting halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to put its shoes on. Both sentiments note the advantage that the false can sometimes have over the true. Modern
Make the Truth at Least as Sticky as the Myths Read More »