Jury simulation research has been the subject of longstanding criticism in regards to ecological validity. One additional factor that has received little attention that may also impact the generalizability of this research relates to excluding participants based on their memory of, or their attention paid to, the case. In order to determine how…

This project employs an experimental design to test theoretical predictions regarding how numeracy can assist jurors in determining damage awards to compensate a plaintiff for pain and suffering and how the use of meaningful numerical anchors may produce similar benefits. Mock jurors (N = 345) reviewed a legal case and were asked to give a dollar…

The study of eyewitness testimony is thriving. Over the last three decades, psychologists have made important discoveries, and applied those discoveries to the legal system in myriad ways. Along the way, there were disagreements, which were typically healthy in nature. I discuss a few, for example, centering around the impact of misinformation on…

In its 2023 decision in "Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard," the Supreme Court effectively ended its approval of affirmative action in higher education admissions, holding that practices at Harvard and the University of North Carolina (UNC) were unlawful. The Court concluded that UNC's practices violated the guarantee of equal…

The U.S. Supreme Court has heard several cases regarding special education. These cases have resulted in decisions that have addressed issues involving special education programming and procedural issues. On March 21, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling in "Perez v. Sturgis Public Schools." This decision, which was the…

This chapter explores whether academic freedom extends to the work of academic public intellectuals through a historical analysis of landmark cases and episodes. It leads to the sobering conclusion that "professors proceed at their own risk if and when they take on the role of a public intellectual," noting that the presence of academic…

Concerns about alcohol use at college events have been documented for students, administrators, faculty, and the community across the history of higher education in America. Concerns range from the scrapes and bruises related to events that encourage or allow student inebriation, to student alcohol poisoning. Yet, a host of campuses have developed…

The Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Act 2018 (FITS Act) requires persons or entities, including universities, who engage with the Australian political landscape on behalf of a foreign principal, to register under the scheme. The High Court of Australia's recent decision in LibertyWorks Inc v Commonwealth of Australia [2021] HCA 18 may cause…

Ulric Neisser was the initiator of the contemporary psychology of autobiographical memory, as well as the founder of the ecological approach to human cognition. The present article reviews his empirical and theoretical contributions to an issue which is at the heart of the contemporary debate on autobiographical memory: that is, autobiographical…

This study was designed to determine whether the alignment of state and local priorities was a predictor of improving results, specifically the reduction in the percentage of inexperienced principals and percentages of low-performing schools and the increase in graduation rates. The population of this study included 115 North Carolina school…

Attachment theory, research, and assessments have become increasingly applied to settle child custody cases. We discuss such applications in relation to admissibility criteria for scientific evidence and testimony proposed by Faigman et al. (2014). We argue that attachment theory and research can provide valid "framework evidence";…

Ongoing or recently completed across the United States are a series of lawsuits via which teacher plaintiffs are contesting how they are being evaluated using value-added models (VAMs) as part of states'/districts' teacher accountability systems. To investigate the empirical and pragmatic matters addressed in court, researchers conducted a case…

Although John Scopes and his famous "Monkey Trial" strongly influenced the ongoing evolution-creationism controversy, relatively little is known about Scopes's post-trial life. Moreover, many questions about his trial remain unanswered (e.g., did he actually teach evolution in Dayton?). This paper answers these questions with new…

Affirmative action, a practice used since the 1960s to edge toward equity and address historical and ongoing injustice through higher education attainment, was struck down last month by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS). The immediate and longer term direct and indirect impacts of this ruling are vast and, in some cases, murky. In…

Victims of sexual violence are often punished by the legal system when their version of the incident--or fact finders' perception of their version--violates expected sexual violence schemas. We investigated the influence of sexual violence schemas on mock jurors' ability to accurately recognize facts presented in a hypothetical case. Participants…