Dennis Stolle

• Consultant at ThemeVision

For many psychologists and other social scientists, trial consulting is an alluring career option. Trial consulting is an opportunity to practice applied social science in one of the most interesting contexts of social decision making – the courtroom. Many prospective trial consultants are also attracted by claims in the media, although generally o...

To examine relationships between strength of evidence (SOE) and extraevidentiary variables in the context of Kalven and Zeisel's (The American Jury, 1966) liberation hypothesis, post-trial questionnaire data were collected from judges, attorneys, and jurors associated with 179 criminal jury trials. SOE ratings were strongly correlated with jury ver...

Large-scale studies of the deliberation process in actual juries have been surprisingly rare, and relatively little attention has been devoted to how well juries deliberate. This study identified a set of process-related criteria relevant to the quality of criminal jury deliberations and examined empirical relationships between indicators of these...

The purpose of this article is to further recent work in the psychology of jurisprudence. After summarizing the value positions that are central to a jurisprudence that emphasizes the role of law in the everyday lives of individuals, we examine the interaction between the tenets of that philosophy and the paradigmatic content of psycholegal researc...

Depositions are the most common form of live testimony in litigation. Particularly in high-stakes civil and quasicriminal litigation, however, depositions are often a source of considerable stress and anxiety for the witness. Therapeutic jurisprudence is an interdisciplinary approach to studying the law. It uses both social science and legal analys...

Researchers considering novel or exploratory psycholegal research are often able to easily generate a sizable list of independent variables (IVs) that might influence a measure of interest. Where the research question is novel and the literature is not developed, however, choosing from among a long list of potential variables those worthy of empiri...

Unfortunately, the possibility of future incapacity to engage in health care decision making remains one of the many potential legal problems faced by HIV-positive clients. Consequently, proactive legal planning, including the use of advance directives, is widely recognized as an important element in avoiding legal crisis for HIV-positive persons....

Unfortunately, the possibility of future incapacity to engage in health care decision making remains one of the many potential legal problems faced by HIV-positive clients. Consequently, proactive legal planning, including the use of advance directives, is widely recognized as an important element in avoiding legal crisis for HIV-positive persons....

Standardized form contracts are used in the majority of modern contractual transactions and have become an indispensable part of contemporary commerce. Unfortunately, form contracts sometimes include objectionable terms, are typically offered on a take-it-or-leave-it basis, and are often written in arcane legal jargon that is difficult for both non...

This study investigated the extent to which exculpatory clauses deter consumers from pursuing their legal rights. Undergraduate participants (N = 101) were presented with two written vignettes and asked to imagine themselves as a consumer harmed by a contracted for service. Participants then read a contract and responded to questions assessing thei...

This article focuses on the professional responsibilities that a lawyer owes to older clients. Specifically, this article proposes that when working with older clients, lawyers have a responsibility to ensure that their clients have the capacity to manage their own affairs and to ensure their clients' legal, financial, and personal interests are pr...

The Federal Trade Commission's ("Commission”) decision in In re Kraft, Inc., shocked many members of the legal community. The decision reasserted the Commission's long dormant authority to disregard relevant extrinsic evidence and rely solely on its own reasoned analysis in determining whether an advertisement implicitly conveys deceptive claims. V...