Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Negative Emotions Felt During Trial: The Effect Of Fear, Anger, And Sadness On Juror Decision Making, Narina Nunez

Narina Nunez

During trial, jurors may experience a variety of emotions, many of which are negative. The current study examined the effects the negative emotions anger, fear, and sadness had on jurors’ sentencing decisions and explored whether Cognitive Appraisal Theory or the Intuitive Prosecutor Model could explain these effects. Jurors viewed the sentencing phase of a capital murder trial and were asked to sentence the defendant. Results indicated that after viewing the trial, jurors reported increased anger and sadness, but not fear. However, only change in anger affected jurors’ sentences. Jurors who reported a greater change in anger were more likely to …