SCHEMAS

Most everyone has seen criminal trials (both fictitious and real) on TV. You know, then, that the trial starts with opening statements and ends with closing arguments by the prosecution and defense, respectively.

For this Discussion, you will examine the advantages and disadvantages of schemas.

TO PREPARE

• Review the Learning Resources for this week and consider the advantages and disadvantages of schema.
• Imagine you are a juror. Exactly how do opening statements and closing arguments function as schemas? In particular, what impact would opening statements have on how you, as a juror, would interpret evidence proffered at trial?

BY DAY 3

Post how your preconceptions (i.e., your schema) might supersede the schema (i.e., theory) of the case as presented by attorneys for the state and for the defendant during opening statements. How might the strength of your preconceptions cause you to reject the attorneys’ attempt to provide a schema for the case?

Required Media

• Outsmarting Human Minds. (2017, September 28). Self-fulfilling prophecies: How our beliefs shape others’ behaviorLinks to an external site. [Video podcast]. Retrieved from
• Note: This media program is approximately 7 minutes.Required Readings
  • Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D., Akert, R. M., & Sommers, S. R. (Eds.). (2019). Social psychology (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
    • Chapter 3, “Social Cognition: How We Think About the Social World”
  • Note: Viewing media and interactives embedded in the electronic version of this course text is not required for this course.
  • Stolle, D. P., & Slain, A. J. (1997). Standard form contracts and contract schemas: A preliminary investigation of the effects of exculpatory clauses on consumers’ propensity to sue. Behavioral Sciences and the LawLinks to an external site., 15(1), 83–94. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1099- 0798(199724)15:1<83::AID-BSL261>3.0.CO;2-F.
  • Madon, S., Jussim, L., Guyll, M., Nofziger, H., Salib, E. R., Willard, J., & Scherr, K. C. (2018). The accumulation of stereotype-based self-fulfilling prophecies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,Links to an external site. 115(5), 825–844. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000142.supp (Supplemental)