Premium
The Role of Emotions in Comparative Negligence Judgments 1
Author(s) -
Feigenson Neal,
Park Jaihyun,
Salovey Peter
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2001.tb02057.x
Subject(s) - psychology , anger , plaintiff , arousal , accident (philosophy) , damages , social psychology , law , philosophy , epistemology , political science
This experiment studied the role of emotional arousal in mediating the impact of plaintiff and defendant blameworthiness and accident severity on comparative negligence judgments. Participants ( N = 214) read descriptions and viewed photographs of 2 accident cases varying in outcome severity, victim blameworthiness, and defendant blameworthiness. Participants then rated their emotional responses to the cases, apportioned fault between the parties, and assessed gross and discounted damages. Blameworthiness and outcome severity affected apportionment of fault, and the effects of blameworthiness and severity appeared to be mediated by the arousal of anger toward the parties. Damage awards were determined primarily by the severity of the accident and were not mediated by emotional arousal.