By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Does knowing about hindsight reduce your susceptibility to it? Not as much as we would hope. It is especially an occupational hazard for social scientists and others who study attitudes and bias; we tend to think that our ability to identify and describe the bias makes us immune to its effects. […]
Acknowledge the Bias Blind Spot Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Think of the situations where self-diagnosis wouldn’t work very well: A police officer asking, “Do you think you were speeding?” or a doctor inquiring, “Do you believe your cancer is in remission?” Yet we still rely on self-diagnosis when trying to discover and eliminate bias in civil and criminal cases
Never Rely on Self-Diagnosis of Bias Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: It happens sometimes in an argument: You know the claim you’re hearing is false, but you also know that it sounds like it could be true, and it’ll be a lot harder to refute the argument than it was to make it in the first place. Measured in time and
Counter the Cheap Shot Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: A classic case of pretrial publicity is currently playing out in Steubenville, Ohio. After members of the hacker’s group called “Anonymous,” posted a photo and video linking two high school football players to the rape of a teenage girl and pointing toward an official effort to limit the scope of
Account for the Media’s Effect (Even in Civil Cases) Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Justice may be blind, but hired experts can see pretty darned well in our litigation system. No, a responsible expert won’t lie in order to support their client. But yes, a knowledge of who the client is can’t help but have at least a subtle influence on the resulting testimony.
Consider a Blind Expert Witness Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: News: Americans still don’t love lawsuits. According to polling conducted in August by Luce Research for the American Tort Reform Association and the group, Sick of Lawsuits, “Americans firmly believe that lawsuit abuse is a problem in our country. They see too many lawsuits and believe that the number of
Take Anti-Lawsuit Attitudes With a Grain of Salt Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Think beyond the stereotypes. That is what you’re used to hearing (and I’m used to saying) about jury selection. But that same need to subvert the stereotypes applies not just to picking panelists, but to persuading as an attorney or an expert witness as well. In each of these situations,
Subvert Stereotypes: Free the Attorney, the Expert, and the Juror Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: The point is easy to grasp but hard to put into practice for both politicians and litigators: If something is likely to come out eventually, then you’re far better off skipping the chase, avoiding the drama, and just getting it out. And a close corollary of the principle is this: If
Bad Stuff? Get It Out And Get It Over With Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: We are used to seeing compassion as an aspect of character, an ethos, or even as a religious belief. But here is another way of looking at it: Compassion is a behavior. And like other behaviors, it can be evoked in some circumstances and inhibited in others. Rather than simply
Cultivate Compassion Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: The notion of rule of law has taken a beating recently. The outcry from those opposed to the Supreme Court decision on healthcare — in many ways a flip side of the reaction that occurred in response to the Bush v. Gore decision that ended the 2000 presidential election recount —
Address Fundamental Skepticism on Rule of Law Read More »