Juror Attitudes Make a Difference Mock trial results, survey data, and systematic post-trial interview studies demonstrate that juror attitudes do make a difference. The more difficult the technology presented in a case, the more likely it is that jurors will be influenced by their attitudes and beliefs. This result is telling - although the belief itself does not automatically suggest an overturning of the PTO's authority, it does indicate juror doubt about the validity of its decisions. An attorney whose case can be buttressed by this belief that the PTO does make mistakes can use this pre-existing attitude to his or her advantage. The complete results of this survey question are demonstrated in the chart.
Attitudes can correlate with verdicts.
For example, whether people thought that the PTO makes mistakes was correlated with whether the potential juror favored the plaintiff or the defense case. The jurors who believed that the PTO does make mistakes were significantly more likely to find for the defendant when presented with the case facts. Completely open-ended questions can also be informative. Identifying key juror attitudes is sometimes difficult. While brainstorming to develop questions to assess juror attitudes is not that hard, identifying the key attitudes that actually make a difference requires systematic jury research.