The 56th Nebraska Symposium on Emotion and the Law: Psychological Perspectives
Coordinated by: Brian H. Bornstein and Richard L. Wiener
The last decade has seen burgeoning interest in issues at the intersection of emotion and law. Given the longstanding interest in emotion among social (and other) psychologists, most of this research has come from a psychological perspective, but it also includes scholars from law, sociology, philosophy, and neuroscience. The issues are theoretical as well as practical, influencing both psychological theories of emotion and legal practice and policy.
The law adopts a double standard in its treatment of emotion. In some areas, the law explicitly addresses emotion as a legitimate consideration, but in other areas, the law denies emotion any role in legal decision-making. For example, legal analysis requires decision makers to consider the emotion of others when weighing the credibility of eyewitnesses, classifying certain offenses as "hate crimes," classifying crimes for purposes of criminal culpability (e.g., "crimes of passion"), awarding damages for emotional injuries (e.g., mental suffering, emotional distress), and allowing jurors’ moral response to influence such consequential decisions as punitive damages, capital sentencing, and jury nullification. At the same time, the courts make what may be an untenable presumption when they require jurors to evaluate certain kinds of evidence dispassionately.
The 2008 Nebraska Symposium on Motivation will include distinguished speakers who are working at the cutting edge of interdisciplinary psycholegal scholarship that examines the role of emotion in the law.
Scheduled speakers include:
Elizabeth Loftus, Ph.D. (University of California-Irvine)
Neal Feigenson, J.D. (Quinnipiac Law School)
Jeremy Blumenthal, J.D., Ph.D. (Syracuse Law School)
Norbert Kerr, Ph.D. (Michigan State University)
Joe Forgas, Ph.D. (University of New South Wales, Australia)
Joel Lieberman, Ph.D. (University of Nevada-Las Vegas)
The Symposium will include a poster session and will be followed by a published volume.