The John M. Olin Center
Paper Abstract
1005. Holger Spamann, Lawyers’ Role-Induced Bias Arises Fast and Persists Despite Intervention, 06/2020; forthcoming in Journal of Legal Studies.
Abstract: Law students randomly assigned to represent one side in a legal argument in the classroom exhibit substantial role-induced prediction bias for their side within only 40 minutes of their role assignment. Reminding students that prediction requires a more neutral perspective than advocacy does not attenuate the bias. The bias occurs evenly in male and female participants, who also report equal confidence in their predictions.