scholarly journals Precise Punishment: Why Precise Punitive Damage Requests Result in Higher Awards Than Round Requests

Author(s):  
Michael Conklin

Imagine a setting where someone asks two people what the temperature is outside. The first person says it is 80 °F, while the second person says it is 78.7 °F. Research regarding precise versus round cognitive anchoring suggests that the second person is more likely to be believed. This is because it is human nature to assume that if someone gives a precise answer, he must have good reason for doing so. This principle remains constant in a variety of settings, including used car negotiations, eBay transactions, and estimating the field goal percentage of a basketball player. This Article reports the results of a first-of-its-kind study involving over 600 participants designed to measure if this same principle applies to punitive damage requests from plaintiffs’ attorneys. In other words, can a plaintiff’s attorney increase the punitive damages awarded simply by requesting $497,000 instead of $500,000. The stark differences produced from such a subtle and costless change provide a valuable strategy for plaintiffs’ attorneys, a cautionary warning for civil defense attorneys, and constructive insight into the subjective nature of juror decision-making.

2001 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 614-630 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Skolnick ◽  
Jerry I. Shaw

Two studies compared the effectiveness of eyewitness testimony and physical evidence on mock-juror decision making. Jury-eligible participants were randomly assigned to read one of eight versions of a hypothetical murder scenario and were each asked to render a verdict, to recommend a sentencing option, and to make other evaluative judgments of the defendant. In Study 1, either eyewitness testimony or physical evidence was presented, whereas in Study 2, both types of evidence were presented together. Also, in both studies, the strength of evidence varied. Log linear analysis confirmed that mock jurors’ verdicts and evaluative judgments were influenced to a greater extent by physical evidence than by eyewitness testimony. Strong evidence produced more guilty verdicts than weak evidence. However, combining strong evidence of both types was no more effective than presenting strong evidence of either type. Implications of these factors for prosecutors and defense attorneys in criminal proceedings are discussed.


Author(s):  
Stefan Scherbaum ◽  
Simon Frisch ◽  
Maja Dshemuchadse

Abstract. Folk wisdom tells us that additional time to make a decision helps us to refrain from the first impulse to take the bird in the hand. However, the question why the time to decide plays an important role is still unanswered. Here we distinguish two explanations, one based on a bias in value accumulation that has to be overcome with time, the other based on cognitive control processes that need time to set in. In an intertemporal decision task, we use mouse tracking to study participants’ responses to options’ values and delays which were presented sequentially. We find that the information about options’ delays does indeed lead to an immediate bias that is controlled afterwards, matching the prediction of control processes needed to counter initial impulses. Hence, by using a dynamic measure, we provide insight into the processes underlying short-term oriented choices in intertemporal decision making.


2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blake McKimmie ◽  
Jane Masters ◽  
Barbara Masser ◽  
Regina Schuller ◽  
Deborah Terry

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 1489-1496
Author(s):  
Branislav Stanisavljević

Research carried out in the last few years as the example of companies belonging to the category of medium-size enterprises has shown that, for example, typical enterprises, of the total number of data processed in information of importance for its business, seriously takes into consideration and process only 10% of the observed firms. It is justifiable to ask whether these 10% of the processed and analyzed business information can have an adequate potential or motive power to direct the organization to success that is measured by competitive advantages and on a sustainable basis? Or, the question can be formulated: what happens to the rest, mostly 90% of the information that the enterprise does not transform into a form suitable for business analysis and decision-making. It is precisely the task of business intelligence to find a way to utilize all the data collected and processed in the business decision-making process. In this regard, we can conclude that Business Intelligence is, in fact, the framework title for all tools and / or applications that will enable the collection, processing, analysis, distribution to decision-making bodies in the business system in order to derivate from this information valid business decisions - as the most important and / or most important task of the manager. Of course, from an economic point of view, the best decisions are management decisions that provide a lasting competitive advantage and achieve maximum financial performance. This means that business intelligence actually allows a more complete and / or comprehensive view of the overall business performance of all its parts and subsystems. But the system functions can be measured essential and positive economic and financial performance, as well as the position in the branch of the business to which it belongs, and wider, within the national economy. (Of course, today the boundaries of the national economy have become too crowded for many companies, bearing in mind globalization and competitiveness in the light of organization of work and business function). The advantage of business intelligence as a model, if accepted at the organization level, ensures that each subsystem in the organization receives precisely the information needed to make development decisions, but also decisions regarding operational activities. So, it should be born in mind that business intelligence does not imply that information is shared on some key words, on the contrary, the goal is to look at the context of the business, or in general, and that anyone in the further decision hierarchy can manage exactly the same information that is necessary for achieving excellent business performance. Because, if the insight into the information is not complete, the analysis is based on the description of individual parts, i.e. proving partial performance in the realization of individual information, which can certainly create a space for the loss of the expensive time and energy. Illustratively, if the view, or insight into the information, is not 100%, then all business decision-making is like the song of J.J. Zmaj "Elephant", about an elephant and a blindmen, where everyone feels and act only on the base of the experienced work, and brings judgment on what is what or what can be. As in this song for children, everyone thinks that he touches different animals and when they make claims about what they feel, everyone describes a completely different life. Therefore, business intelligence implies that information is fully considered and it is basically the basis or knowledge base, and therefore the basis of business excellence. In doing so, the main problem is how information is transformed into knowledge and based on it in business decision making. It is precisely in this segment that the main advantage of business intelligence is its contribution to the knowledge and business of the company based on power of knowledge. Therefore, for modern business conditions, it is characteristic that the management of the company is realized on the basis of partial knowledge about stakeholders (buyers, suppliers, competitors, shareholders, governments, institutional framework, legislation), and only a complete overview of managers at the highest level in all these partial interest groups allows managers to have a “boat” called the organization of labor leading a safe hand through the storm, Scile and Haribde threatens to endanger business, towards a calm sea and a safe harbor - called a sustainable competitive advantage based on power and knowledge.


Author(s):  
Bailey M. Fraser ◽  
Simona Mackovichova ◽  
Lauren E. Thompson ◽  
Joanna D. Pozzulo ◽  
Hunter R. Hanna ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 21-22 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-49
Author(s):  
Radcliffe G. Edmonds

AbstractAn analysis of the rhetorical strategies used in the so-called Greek Magical Papyri to bolster the authority of the authors provides insight into the authors of these texts and their intended audiences. This article reviews the scholarship on the identity of the composers of the Greek Magical Papyri and explores the rhetorical strategies used in the texts to create authority, before comparing the dominant strategies in the Greek Magical Papyri with similar ones in other kinds of recipe collections, specifically alchemical and medical texts. The authors of the recipes in the Greek Magical Papyri make little use of the traditional authority of the temples but instead justify their claims of superiority with reference to the amazing efficacy of the procedures they describe. The direct, second person address in formulas such as “and you will be amazed” suggests that the intended audience was imagined not as potential clients who need to be convinced of the author’s expertise, but rather as potential practitioners interested in impressing their own clients.


2000 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingela Berggren ◽  
Elisabeth Severinsson

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of clinical supervision on nurse’ moral decision making. The sample consisted of 15 registered nurses who took part in clinical supervision sessions. Data were obtained from interviews and analysed by a hermeneutic transformative process. The hermeneutic interpretation revealed four themes: increased self-assurance, an increased ability to support the patient, an increased ability to be in a relationship with the patient, and an increased ability to take responsibility. In conclusion, it seems that clinical supervision enhances nurse’ ability to provide care on the basis of their decision making. However, the qualitative and structural aspects of clinical supervision have to be investigated further in order to develop professional insight into the way that nurses think and react.


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