This seminar applies principles of psychology—the scientific study of how people think, feel, and behave—to normative legal doctrine and contemporary policies, practices, and procedures. The class will draw on cognitive, social, and clinical psychology to address various topics, including (1) perception and memory, with a focus on eyewitness testimony, deception detection, and confession evidence; (2) decision making, including cognitive shortcuts, biases, and emotionality; and (3) persuasion principles and group dynamics, focusing on their implications for adversarial negotiation and trial. The course will then turn to how psychology research can improve the treatment of special populations in the legal system and can improve substantive doctrine in criminal, civil, and procedural law. The course concludes by examining how lay citizens experience “justice” and how practicing lawyers experience “happiness.”
The course emphasizes how insights from psychology can challenge and improve traditional legal thinking and will equip students to critically evaluate the law’s approach to regulating human behavior. Students will leave the course better equipped to bring these insights into arguments about doctrine, policy, and procedural reform.