Title:
Liability decisions and damage allocations for pain and suffering: an investigation of jury decision making in sexual harassment cases
Author:
Julie A. VanDette
Thesis Advisor:
Jen Lowry
Committee Member:
Matthew Kirkhart
Committee Member:
James Buckley
Committee Member:
Lawrence Raifman
Degree Granting Institution:
Loyola University Maryland--College of Arts and Sciences
Place:
Baltimore (Md.)
Publisher:
Loyola University Maryland
Date Created:
2007
Type of Resource:
text
Genre:
thesis
Language:
eng
Format:
application/pdf
Physical Form:
electronic
Digital Source:
reformatted digital
Abstract:
Despite the importance of the debate of fair compensation in our legal system, there has been limited empirical research on juror decision making for pain and suffering damage awards. This area of research is needed especially with the increasing number of lawsuits exclusively involving emotional injuries, such as discrimination and sexual harassment. The present study examined whether jurors can effectively differentiate varying levels of emotional harm in a sexual harassment case. Specifically, this study investigated whether differences in the severity of the plaintiff's alleged emotional injury affect decisions of liability and damage awards in these cases. The effect of differences in the intensity of the defendant's alleged conduct was also investigated. Participants (N = 278) read scenarios of a sexual harassment case that differed in terms of the defendant's conduct (low or high intensity), as well as plaintiff's injury (low, moderate, high severity). Participants completed questionnaires regarding judgments of liability as well as compensatory and punitive damages. Questionnaires about case perceptions and demographics were also completed by the participants. Findings from the current study indicate that liability decisions were, as the law intends, appropriately influenced by the conduct of the defendant and not by the severity of plaintiff's harm. Although previous research on compensatory damage awards for physical injuries found that damages show a direct relationship with the severity of the harm, this was less clear-cut with emotional injuries. This was also evident in punitive damage awards in that jurors inappropriately awarded less in punitive damages as the defendant's conduct was more intense. Further, results revealed that jurors exhibited leakage between compensatory and punitive damage awards. For example, punitive damages were not related to the intensity of the defendant's conduct as the law intends, but were rather inappropriately related to the plaintiff's injury. Overall, results highlight jurors' difficulty in clearly differentiating levels of emotional harm as well as difficulty compartmentalizing legally distinct concepts of compensatory and punitive damages. Psychological explanations for the results including hindsight bias, attribution theory, and juror decision making theories are explored. Limitations and implications of the study are also discussed.
Subject:
Jurors--United States--Decision making
Subject:
Jurors--United States--Psychology
Subject:
Damages
Subject:
Sexual harassments--Law and legislation
Subject:
Attribution (Social psychology)
Subject:
Hindsight bias (Psychology)
Subject:
Damages--Law and legistration Attribution (Social psychology)
Degree:
Doctor of Psychology
Level:
Doctoral
Discipline:
Psychology
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Identifier:
VanDetteJA-07
