Effects of Type of Evidence and Favorability of Verdict on Perceptions of Justice

• NCJ Number: 97381
• Journal: Journal of Applied Social Psychology Volume: 14 Issue: 5 Dated: (September-October 1984) Pages: 448-460
• Author(s): L Musante
• Date Published: 1984
• Length: 13 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined the effect of type of evidence presented within an adversarial procedure on evaluations of procedural and distributive justice.

Abstract

Within the context of a simulated civil case, subjects were given supportive evidence that focused on either the legal aspects of the case or the extenuating circumstances surrounding the dispute. Following adjudication, subjects received either a favorable verdict or an unfavorable verdict. Results revealed an evidential orientation by verdict interaction such that subjects with equity-based evidence made more extreme evaluations of the verdict than did subjects whose evidence was legalistic in nature. These findings are discussed in terms of the hedonic relavance and disconfirmation of expectations possibly associated with equity evidence. Three data tables and 18 references are supplied. (Author abstract modified)