Comprehensibility of Penalty Phase Instructions: Motivation of Jurors and Quality of Instructions

本试点研究考察了动机认知的作用，在一个试验的惩罚阶段的指令的可理解性。特别是，它将评估认知和动机因素对陪审员理解死刑案件中刑罚阶段指示和遵守法律的能力的相互作用。我们预计，处于晋升动机状态的人通过达到期望的最终状态来寻求成就和进步，而处于预防动机状态的人通过避免与期望的最终状态不匹配来寻求安全和保障。由此可见，处于预防动机状态的陪审员会警惕地履行职责，避免犯犯错误（即在法律支持判处监禁的情况下判处被告死刑），而处于促进动机状态的陪审员会努力实现惩罚被告的正义目标，避免犯疏忽错误（即在事实支持死刑的情况下不判处死刑）。这项研究将为今后关于这些因素对多成员陪审团审议的作用的工作奠定基础。

This pilot study examines the role of motivated cognition in the comprehensibility of instructions at the penalty phase of a trial. In particular, it will assess the interactive effects of cognitive and motivational factors on jurors' abilities to understand penalty-phase instructions and follow the law in capital cases. We anticipate that people in a promotion motivational state seek accomplishment and advancement by obtaining matches to a desired end state, while people in a prevention motivational state seek safety and security by avoiding mismatches to the desired end state. It follows that jurors in a prevention motivational state will vigilantly discharge their responsibilities and avoid making errors of commission (i.e., sentencing a defendant to death when the law supports a prison sentence) while jurors in a promotion motivational state will work hard to accomplish the justice-based goal of punishing the defendant and avoid making errors of omission (i.e., failing to invoke the death penalty when the facts support it). The study will lay the groundwork for future work on the role of such factors on multimember jury deliberations.