Counterfactual thinking in mock juror assessments of negligence: A preliminary investigation

✍ Scribed by Dr. Richard L. Wiener; Mauricio Gaborit; Christine C. Pritchard; Erin M. McDonough; Caryn R. Staebler; Deane C. Wiley; Kristen S. Goldkamp

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 868 KB
• Volume: 12
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0735-3936
• DOI: 10.1002/bsl.2370120108

✦ Synopsis

This Research Report presents an initial attempt to apply the theory of counterfactual thinking to study the cognitive processes that underlie judgments of negligence. Subjects reviewed a summary of an appellate case involving a work accident and listed all the ways in which the accident could have been undone (mutated). Participants' evaluations of the defendant's behavior were influenced by the ease of mutation of the negligent act and other mutations of the defendant's behavior, but not by the number of mutations of the plaintiffs conduct. Exploratory path analysis suggested that counterfactual thinking may have its greatest impact not as a direct influence on verdicts and damages, but rather as an indirect influence impacting verdicts through lower level judgments about the normality of the defendant's behavior and the standard of care. T h e results also suggest that contrary to the law, subjects base their negligence verdicts on assessments of normal care along with due care.

Negligence is a common theory that plaintiffs use to bring causes of action in tort. Although the prima facie case of ordinary negligence is well settled law, the cognitive processes by which people evaluate negligence claims are not well understood. The purpose of the present research was to use social cognitive theory to inquire about how people integrate facts to make judgments about liability.