Shai Danziger

Extraneous factors in judicial decisions

Are judicial rulings based solely on laws and facts? Legal formalism holds that judges apply legal reasons to the facts of a case in a rational, mechanical, and deliberative manner. In contrast, legal realists argue that the rational application of legal reasons does not sufficiently explain the decisions of judges and that psychological, political, and social factors influence judicial rulings. We test the common caricature of realism that justice is “what the judge ate for breakfast” in sequential parole decisions made by experienced judges. We record the judges’ two daily food breaks, which result in segmenting the deliberations of the day into three distinct “decision sessions.” We find that the percentage of favorable rulings drops gradually from ≈65% to nearly zero within each decision session and returns abruptly to ≈65% after a break. Our findings suggest that judicial rulings can be swayed by extraneous variables that should have no bearing on legal decisions.

Wii will rock you! The use and effect of figurative language in consumer reviews of hedonic and utilitarian consumption.

Figurative language in advertising affects product attitudes positively across contexts. In contrast, the present research demonstrates that the use and effectiveness of figurative language in consumer-generated content is context specific, because of conversational norms unique to this form of communication. Study 1 shows that consumer reviews containing more figurative language lead to more favorable attitudes in hedonic, but not utilitarian, consumption contexts, and that conversational norms about figurative language govern this effect. Study 2 reveals that reading a review containing figurative language increases choice of hedonic over utilitarian options. Finally, via analysis of online consumer reviews and a lab experiment, studies 3 and 4 indicate that consumers use figurative language more when sharing experiences about hedonic than utilitarian consumption, and that review extremity influences figurative language use only in reviews of hedonic consumption. The studies highlight the critical role of conversational norms in interpreting and creating user-generated content.

Visual detection is gated by attending for action: Evidence from hemispatial neglect

We report observations in patients with visual extinction demonstrating that detection of visual events is gated by attention at the level of processing at which a stimulus is selected for action. In one experiment, three patients reported the identity of numerical words and digits presented either in the ipsilesional field, the contralesional field, or both fields. On the critical bilateral trials, extinction was greater when the competing items shared the same meaning and response, regardless of whether the items were visually different (e.g., ONE + 1), or identical (e.g., 1 + 1). A fourth patient was tested in a second experiment in which the competing items on bilateral trials were either different (e.g., ONE + TWO), identical (e.g., ONE + ONE) or homophones that were visually and semantically different but shared the same response (e.g., ONE + WON). Homophones and identical items caused similar extinction with less extinction occurring on different item trials.

Language Changes Implicit Associations Between Ethnic Groups and Evaluation in Bilinguals

How does the language one speaks influence one’s thoughts? This issue has been debated since the Sapir-Whorf linguistic relativity hypothesis proposed that a language’s characteristics determine the thoughts of its speakers (Whorf, 1957). Although it is an overstatement to claim that language determines thought (Boroditsky, Schmidt, & Phillips, 2003), there are numerous findings showing an influence of language structure on cognition. For example, research with monolingual speakers has found that color terms within a language influence color perception (Drivonikou et al., 2007; Winawer et al., 2007) and that people who speak languages that mark gender perceive inanimate objects as having characteristics typical of their grammatical gender (Boroditsky et al., 2003). In the study we report here, we did not look at the specific influence of language structure, but rather examined the way in which language use can selectively influence the accessibility of socially relevant associations. In many multilingual, multicultural communities, there is tension between ethnic groups. This is definitely the case in Israel, where there is tension between the Jewish majority and the Arab minority. We tested whether Arab Israelis’ implicit associations regarding Arabs and Jews differ depending on whether these associations are elicited in Hebrew or in Arabic. Building on the notion that when the associative representation of an object varies across contexts, automatic evaluations become context sensitive (Rydell & Gawronski, 2008), we predicted that participants would exhibit more positive associations to Arabs and less positive associations to Jews when using Arabic than when using Hebrew. Put differently, we predicted that the language used to elicit associations between ethnic groups and evaluation would selectively activate the heterogeneous associations experienced by Arab Israelis: associations that are more positive for Jews in a Hebrew-speaking environment and more positive for Arabs in an Arab-speaking environment.

Retailer Pricing Strategy and Consumer Choice under Price Uncertainty

This research examines how consumers choose retailers when they are uncertain about store prices prior to shopping. Simulating everyday choice, participants made successive retailer choices where on each occasion they chose a retailer and only then learned product prices. The results of a series of studies demonstrated that participants were more likely to choose a retailer that offered an everyday low pricing strategy (EDLP) or that offered frequent small discounts over a retailer that offered infrequent large discounts. This choice advantage for the retailer that was cheaper more often manifested even when its average price was judged to be higher. The same results were obtained when choices were made a day apart, when price feedback was only given for the chosen retailer, and when price feedback was given for both retailers. Participants expectations of future prices but not their judgments of retailers past average prices predicted their subsequent retailer choice.

Reply to Weinshall-Margel and Shapard: Extraneous factors in judicial decisions persist

Shapard and Weinshall-Margel (1) elucidate several critiques of our article, “Extraneous factors in judicial decisions” (2), in which we report a greater likelihood of judicial ruling in favor of a prisoner at the beginning of the work day or after a food break than later in a sequence of cases. They argue that two interlinked factors jointly produce our results: (i) all prisoners from one prison are seen before a break is taken, and (ii) all prisoners without representation are seen at the end of each decision session, prior to the breaks.

Business Corruption and Economic Prosperity

Prior literature shows government corruption mostly hurts poorer economies, whereas recent events, including the 2008 US economic crisis, suggest business corruption may harm growth in wealthier economies. Using multi-national surveys in which citizens communicated their perceptions of corruption levels for both the private and the public sectors, we examine the extent of business corruption relative to government corruption in countries, and its relation to economic prosperity. We find that citizens of wealthier countries report higher business corruption than citizens of poor countries, and relatively lower government corruption. Business corruption is evidently a greater concern to citizens of wealthier countries. Furthermore, we find that an increase in perceived business corruption is associated with a decrease in income per capita mainly in wealthy countries. In wealthier economies, business trust has a larger role, and perceived business corruption has a stronger effect on growth. Finally, our evidence suggests an increase in perceived business corruption leads to increase in regulation, and the marginal effect of the regulation on growth is positive.

The Dark Side of Giving Monetary Gifts

Social events such as weddings, christenings, and bar mitzvahs are very important to many people. They commemorate noteworthy occasions and enable hosts and guests to rejoice with and honor each other. Recently, a shift has occurred whereby hosts ask guests for money, instead of presents, as gifts at such social events (particularly weddings). Interestingly, hosts report feeling uncomfortable for making this request. In the present research, we ask whether these feelings are justified. We ask whether giving money at social events troubles guests; we explore their cognitions, emotions, and behavior; and if giving money troubles them, we investigate whether these thoughts can somehow be lessened.