The Psychology of Tort Law

“This innovative volume offers an inviting guide to the psychology of tort law and the decision making of plaintiffs, defendants, judges, and juries.” —Shari Seidman Diamond, Howard J. Trienens Professor of Law and Professor of Psychology

The Psychology of Tort Law explores tort law through the lens of psychological science. Drawing on a wealth of psychological research and their own experiences teaching and researching tort law, Jennifer K. Robbennolt and Valerie P. Hans examine the psychological assumptions that underlie doctrinal rules. They explore how tort law influences the behavior and decision-making of potential plaintiffs and defendants, examining how doctors and patients, drivers, manufacturers and purchasers of products, property owners, and others make decisions against the backdrop of tort law. They show how the judges and jurors who decide tort claims are influenced by psychological phenomena in deciding cases. And they reveal how plaintiffs, defendants, and their attorneys resolve tort disputes in the shadow of tort law.Robbennolt and Hans here shed fascinating light on the tort system, and on the psychological dynamics which undergird its functioning.

“Expansive but highly engaging and readable. The authors, both psychologists teaching in law schools, maximize the utility of their efforts by bringing normally scattered psychological research findings to bear on core concepts in the law. Those who believe that the law should develop its doctrines with reference to human psychology will be immensely aided in their efforts to achieve that objective by the availability of this comprehensive but very accessible review.” —Tom R. Tyler, Macklin Fleming Professor of Law and Professor of Psychology, Yale University