INFLUENCES OF DESTRUCTIVE PERSONALITY INFORMATION ON DECISION-MAKING

This study examined the effects of information about a landlord's pers onality on juror judgments for a landlord-tenant civil trial. The pers onality information manipulated was specifically relevant to destructi ve acts. Alternative versions of witness testimony were used to descri be a landlord either high or low on need for power, treating people as objects, and negative life themes. This information strongly influenc ed aspects of the schema for this case constructed by the individual m ock jurors. Destructive personality information caused dislike of the landlord and lowered the credibility of his story. If the landlord tre ated people as objects, the credibility of the tenant's story and posi tive evaluations of the tenant increased. Juror judgments about relati ve fault were strongly shifted by destructive personality information. An empirical model for juror decisions indicated a dynamic interplay of story components and fault judgments.