Negative emotions felt during trial: The effect of fear, anger, and sadness on juror decision making

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 sentence the defendant to death. This effect was mediated by the level of importance jurors placed on the prosecution’s evidence and argument. As would be predicted by the Intuitive Prosecutor model, increased anger led to higher ratings of the importance of the prosecution evidence. The increased importance of the prosecution evidence led to an increase in death sentences. Implications are discussed.