Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Emotional Minority: Testing a Theoretical Model of Minority Influence, Emotion Stereotypes, and Prejudice in a Jury Deliberation Context

University Of Illinois At Chicago, Chicago IL

Investigators

Abstract

Although the jury room can be an emotional place, little research has examined the impact of jurors' emotions on the deliberation process. Three studies will investigate how expressing emotion affects the potential for a single juror arguing against the rest of the jury (i.e., a holdout) to influence the majority, particularly holdouts from groups associated with emotion stereotypes (e.g., the "angry Black man" stereotype). Stereotyped minorities are often penalized for expressing emotions. In a holdout juror situation, however, emotion stereotypes might present a unique opportunity for the holdout to violate majority members' expectations, which sometimes enhances the credibility of people who hold a minority opinion. This research will assess people's gender- and race-based emotion stereotypes (Study 1), and will investigate the implications of a holdout juror expressing these stereotypical emotions during jury deliberation (Studies 2 and 3). Participants will engage in what appears to be a computer-mediated discussion about a murder case with five other mock jurors, but in reality is a pre-written fictional deliberation script. These studies will test (a) whether participants are more or less persuaded by holdout jurors who express their opinions with sadness, anger, or no emotion, and (b) if these effects depend on whether the holdout is a man or a woman (for whom sadness is stereotypical and anger is nonstereotypical), or a White versus Black man (for whom anger is stereotypical and sadness is nonstereotypical). The proposed research will increase understanding about the effect of emotion expression on underrepresented groups? credibility and potential to exert influence in emotionally charged settings (e.g., juries, collaborator meetings, hiring committees, workplace groups). It will also increase understanding of how historically underrepresented jurors can decrease or enhance their credibility through expressing emotion on juries, and ensure that the many efforts to promote diversity in jury selection are not futile.