Automatic Judgment and Reasoning About Punishment

Several studies provide evidence that judgments on punishment are influenced by variables that are more or less independent
of guilt considerations. It is postulated that these so called extralegal variables, such as the victim’s reputation or outcome
severity that occurs accidentally and without intention by the offender, in particular influence judgments that are made under
restricted cognitive capacity (low processing depth). Two studies, using a vignette methodology, explore whether participants
are able to correct the biasing influences of extralegal variables if they are motivated to elaborate their judgments under
the most optimal conditions (high processing depth). Study 1 investigates the influence of victim’s reputation, and Study
2 the combined influence of victim’s reputation and accidentally occurring outcome severity under either low or high depth
of information processing. Results show that the influence of extralegal variables can be corrected. However, corrections
are either limited or excessive, and are sometimes even inappropriate.