NATURALLY-OCCURRING EXPECTATION EFFECTS

In this article, the author investigates naturally occurring expectation effects in a juror decision-making paradigm. Mock juror research, using jury-eligible adults and videotapes of trial judges from actual trials, suggested that even when admonished to disregard the judge's behavior and form their own opinions, participants returned verdicts concordant with the judges' bent. Variations in the timing of instruction (expectation) with respect to the presentation of the evidence were consistent with a primacy effect as predicted by the belief-adjustment model. The implications for legal procedure and investigating naturally occurring expectation effects as a real social force are discussed.