Topic

The Jury

Instructions

This week you have read research on the theories of group behavior and dynamics, aggression, social influence, group think, group polarization, and deindivduation. Now you will have a chance to showcase what you have learned by creating a recommendation based on this scenario about jury consultation.

Your post should be approximately 500 words in length and include appropriate APA-style citations and references as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. In addition to citing the assigned works you read this week, please find and cite at least two more peer-reviewed journal articles on any of the areas studied this week to support your position. These articles should be recent (published within the last 10 years).

Answer Preview

Group polarization, social influence, and groupthink are most likely to play a major role of influencing the jurors’ final ruling concerning the guiltiness or innocence of the local official. In theory and practice of group polarization, people are considered to possess a tendency of being extreme in making decisions when exposed to groups (Iyengar & Westwood, 2014). Fundamentally, group polarization occurs in cases where choices of a group are different from initial individual-based choices or in cases where initial tendency of the group is enhanced in line with the escalation of group discussion. Predominantly, group polarization is likely to affect the jurors’ decision-making. For instance, there are already notable reactions that the jury may not be sympathetic to the accused and, therefore, in case one of the jurors makes a persisted explanation in linking his or her argumentation with the allegations to approve their viability, majority of jurors may follow suit and end up finding the accused guilty.

Word Count: 600