FSU College of Law Research Center Blog

Trial Techniques in a Visual Culture

New York Law School has created the Visual Persuasion Project to explore the effect of "visual rhetoric" on the representation of legal issues and to train students in more effective advocacy using visual technologies.  In the Neuroethics and Law blog, Christopher Buttafusco suggests that there may be fundamental differences in the way that the brain processes different types of visual information that could raise questions about the need for different standards of admissibility based on format.

Posted by Robin Gault

Is There Anything Good About Men?

This is the title of a thought-provoking address given at the American Psychological Association by FSU's own Dr. Roy Baumeister.  Dr. Baumeister focuses on how culture exploits men and women in different ways, and how this influences behavior.  (He also explains why, even though each individual has one father and one mother, people in general have approximately twice as many female ancestors as male ancestors.)

Posted by Robin Gault

The Physical Basis of Moral Judgments

A recent study by Michael Koenigs, et al., Damage to the Prefrontal Cortex Increases Utilitarian Moral Judgments, published in the March 21, 2007 online version of Nature, demonstrates the effect of damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex on a person's ability to make normal judgments of right and wrong.  The authors conclude that in "high-conflict personal moral dilemmas" which feature "competing considerations of aggregate welfare on the one hand, and, on the other hand, harm to others that would normally evoke a strong social emotion," participants in the study with focal bilateral damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPC), a brain region necessary for the normal generation of emotions, particularly 'social emotions,' appeared to "rely on explicit norms endorsing the maximization of aggregate welfare and prohibiting the harming of others."  According to an article by Benedict Carey in March 22, 2007, edition of The New York Times, p. A19, participants with "ventromedial injuries were about twice as likely as other participants to say they would push someone in front of the train (if that was the only option)..." Some of the questions asked of the study participants can be found in a March 22, 2007, article by Roxanne Khamsi at NewScientist.com. 

Posted by Mary McCormick

The Case of Mimi the Cat

After being shot at by a local villager just before sunrise, a black cat, which “ducked and ran away,” goes missing for a couple of weeks. She returns home with a scratch on her paw. Two witnesses to the alleged armed attack offer testimony based on the psychological faculty of perception—in this case, visual acuity.

Mimi’s case and other smile-eliciting case descriptions are in a new book published by Amsterdam University Press: The Popular Policeman and Other Cases: Psychological Perspectives on Legal Evidence. (We have a copy.)

The authors hope to encourage consideration “of often neglected issues in the field of psychology and the law.” There is potential for expert witness testimony in areas “that psychologists are not thought to possess relevant information.” The case descriptions collected here may provide useful training in the application of psychology within a legal context. An added plus: “…some cases, in spite of their sometimes dramatic qualities, may occasionally elicit a smile.”

Posted by Toni Urquhart

Integrating Psychology and Law into Instruction

Interesting article on how aspects of psychology and law can be integrated into instruction, with examples and a bibliography, here.

Posted by Jon Lutz

Careers in Forensic Psychology

Forensic Psychology is the application of science and psychology to questions and issues related to law and the legal system. Read more:
Careers in Forensic Psychology

Posted by Jon Lutz