Errors in Judgment: The Fundamental Attribution Error and Supreme Court Decision-making
Location
Science Center, A154
Document Type
Presentation
Start Date
4-24-2015 1:30 PM
End Date
4-24-2015 2:30 PM
Abstract
Understanding subconscious motivations in Supreme Court decision-making may provide us with a frame of reference to address undue considerations in our justice system. This paper asks two simple questions: does the fundamental attribution error correlate with Supreme Court outcomes, and what factors drive the error’s presence? This question is explored using an econometric approach from content-analyzed Supreme Court opinions. It is anticipated that the error will not be present at a rate of statistical significance, but that the error will be positively correlated with non-majority opinions, emotional language usage, and “politicized” questions of law.
Recommended Citation
Parish, Kalind, "Errors in Judgment: The Fundamental Attribution Error and Supreme Court Decision-making" (04/24/15). Senior Symposium. 5.
https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/seniorsymp/2015/presentations/5
Major
Law and Society; Politics
Advisor(s)
Ronald Kahn, Politics
Michael Parkin, Politics
Project Mentor(s)
Michael Parkin, Politics
April 2015
Errors in Judgment: The Fundamental Attribution Error and Supreme Court Decision-making
Science Center, A154
Understanding subconscious motivations in Supreme Court decision-making may provide us with a frame of reference to address undue considerations in our justice system. This paper asks two simple questions: does the fundamental attribution error correlate with Supreme Court outcomes, and what factors drive the error’s presence? This question is explored using an econometric approach from content-analyzed Supreme Court opinions. It is anticipated that the error will not be present at a rate of statistical significance, but that the error will be positively correlated with non-majority opinions, emotional language usage, and “politicized” questions of law.
Notes
Session 1, Panel 1 - Language and Authenticity: Studies of Metaphors, the Supreme Court, and the Free Speech Movement
Moderator: Steve Wojtal, Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences
Full text thesis available here.