Effects of Technicality and Access to Trial Transcripts on Verdicts and Information Processing in a Civil Trial

Abstract

Two studies assessed the effects of evidence technicality on judgments and evidence processing in a civil trial. In Study 1, 48 jury-eligible adults heard a medical malpractice case that was either high or low in technicality of evidence and were or were not given access to a verbatim trial transcript while reaching a verdict. The evidence of the trial favored the defendant. However, jurors unable to process systematically were expected to employ a readily available counterfactual heuristic and to decide for the plaintiff. In Study 2, 64 college students heard the same trial either high or low in technicality and with or without closing arguments that blocked the use of the counterfactual heuristic. In both studies, low evidence technicality led jurors to process the evidence systematically and to decide for the defendant. Access to transcripts and blocking of counterfactual reasoning led to increases in decisions for the defendant under high evidence complexity.