Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Science (MS)

Major/Program

Psychology

First Advisor's Name

Gary Moran

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Chair

Second Advisor's Name

Mary Volcansek

Third Advisor's Name

Margaret Bull Kovera

Date of Defense

4-4-2000

Abstract

Compensatory and punitive awards were created to serve two separate and distinct purposes: to compensate the plaintiff for his/her injuries and to punish the defendant for negligent conduct, respectively. Thus, defendant characteristics should have no impact on compensatory award decisions. Extensive research, however, indicates that these extra-legal factors do impact damage awards. The purpose o f this study was to examine whether varying types of judicial instructions could be used to reduce the effects o f such extra-legal considerations, particularly a defendant’s status as an individual or a corporation and defendant reprehensibility. As hypothesized, participants awarded larger compensatory awards in high reprehensibility conditions than in low reprehensibility conditions. There was also a trend to award larger sums o f money when the defendant was a corporation rather than an individual. However, none o f the four levels o f judicial instructions were shown to counter the impact o f either extra-legal consideration.

Identifier

FI14052582

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Included in

Psychology Commons

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