Trial Lawyer View

There are “the known unknowns and the unknown unknowns” which is how former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld described some things we know that we don’t know, and other things that we don’t know that we don’t know.  In the general public, there are people who enjoy the challenge of learning new things, and others whose brains resist having to do the mental work of learning. It might be compared to those who engage in physical exercise, and those who are couch potatoes. Jurors who do not relish the work of learning will resort to so-called “common sense” which Einstein characterized as “nothing more than a deposit of prejudices.” Prejudice, in this sense, is to resort to that which is believed to be true, rather than arriving at the truth after thoughtful analysis. In other words, to pre-judge. These jurors do not know what they don’t know, and are typically not inclined to change their pre-judgments, even when skilled trial lawyers are trying mightily to educate them.

Academic psychologists have been unlocking the mysteries of how people accept or reject persuasion and arrive at decisions. But, like lawyers and their legalese, social scientists often use a dizzying array of overly-complicated descriptions. The concepts and discoveries are important, but often explained in what might be described as speaking in tongues. Here is an example (and please read to the end):