Alicia Keys was one of the first celebrities to endorse the #NoMakeup movement and famously appeared on national TV without makeup and with a variety of gorgeous head wraps. The #NoMakeup movement is billed as freeing for women although it doesn’t hurt to be naturally gorgeous like Keys. You may think this has nothing to do with the usual topics of this blog, but you would be incorrect.  Female leaders don’t wear heavy makeup Researchers compared a “cosmetic free” woman, a woman with minimal makeup on, and a woman with makeup applied for a “social night out”. The researchers tell

Not long ago we wrote a post questioning whether Americans really distrust scientists as much as the media says we distrust them. The short answer was “probably not” and we offered some strategies for enhancing trust. So today, we have two separate reports on things that result in decreased trust in scientists, science news, or science experts. Hint: You will want to pay attention to these issues in preparing your expert witnesses.  Poor sound quality makes us react negatively Researchers from the US and Australia recently published an article on how sound quality influences our evaluations of believability and credibility.

As it happens, two recent articles address this question and share the neuromyths that even many educators believe. Here is a quick definition of what a neuromyth is: “Neuromyths are common misconceptions about brain research, many of which relate to learning and education.”  Researchers have surveyed educators, the public and people who have completed neuroscience courses, to assess their belief in neuromyths. We will use a finding we read about earlier to help you remember that these myths are not true—they are (by definition) false.  We are presenting these to you in the hope that if you, like many, think

We have all suspected that the use of traditional news sources (like TV news programs) is declining and a new Pew Research survey (as well as our own pretrial research) shows that to be true. Here are a few of the latest Pew findings:  Just 50% of US adults get their news regularly from television (down from 57% in early 2016).  While local TV news has declined the most in viewership, it still has a larger audience than either network or cable TV news shows.  There is a strong relationship between age and TV news habits. As you may have

The Pew Research Center published an article on their new typology of how people approach facts and information in late 2017 (information on their methodology here). It’s an interesting typology (one of those—“there are 5 kinds of people” theories) and may be useful in assessing how open your jurors will be to new information relevant to your case facts. Or, it might give you ideas about how to frame a narrative so that more people embrace it. As you might expect, people approach new information differently. We’ve all seen this and some of us approach new information in different ways

If you only listen to some news channels, you would think that US citizens have very negative perspectives on federal agencies—especially the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). You would however, be incorrect according to the latest Pew Research survey. In the face of increased media noise, it is important to maintain awareness of what the data says and not what we hear repeatedly is true. We hope you will review the entire survey report (which is only 4 pages long) but we are only covering some of their findings here.  Here are a few of the report highlights:   USPS

This blog is about the intersection of social science and litigation advocacy. One of the central dilemmas litigators frequently face is how to deal with complex ideas to those who are uncomfortable with the ‘science-y’ parts of a case. Whether it is about how quickly a car decelerates, the ways in which a drug affects behavior, or the differences between two inventions—the challenge for jurors is to understand what is being asserted. And of course, that is the responsibility of the trial team and their witnesses. We’ve all read the mass media stories saying that Americans do not trust scientists—but

If you knew this already, congratulations. Your ability to perceive reality is intact. Your wisdom has been affirmed by the data. We wanted you to see some of the results from the new Stress in America survey published recently by the American Psychological Association. What is particularly of interest is that this annual survey is usually released in February of each year. When the APA saw how the results of the survey mirrored our current sociopolitical climate in the US—they released the study results early. Here are just a few of the media reactions to the report (which shows American

We hear a lot about the inaccuracy of eyewitness recall but here’s another strategy to increase eye-witness recall. An Australian researcher wanted to compare the common police interview strategy of “free recall” with a more structured interview technique that places story elements in a specific order (i.e., the Category Cluster Recall Technique). He wondered which strategy would be of more benefit in increasing accuracy and detailed information. So he showed 200 volunteers a video of a woman being mugged and then tested their memory and recall using these two different strategies. In the standard “free recall” technique, witnesses are asked

It’s been a while since we updated the neurolaw area of the blog so we’re doing a combination post to alert you to a number of things we’ve seen coming across our desks. Think of these as things you can use to show colleagues how incredibly well-read and erudite you are while simultaneously dazzling them with your brilliance. Did your brain make you do it? Originally, this area of inquiry was frightening as some wondered if the new neuroscience defenses would dazzle jurors into excusing bad behavior because the defendant’s brain “made him do it”. As excitement over the pretty