Jury Appeal

Recently, the idea of using the reptilian brain has gotten much interest in law circles.  The reptilian brain is the part of the unconscious that represents our basic survival instincts, and the latest research demonstrates it controls our behavior first over the higher order parts of the brain [rational].  I believe you can apply this understanding of decision making to your cases, and should always think through how to make your case “reptilian brain friendly.”  I wrote previously about the issue here.

Perhaps the most important area you need to make sure the jurors reptilian brain is dominant is for your witnesses.  This critical area is ripe for jurors to make fast, early decisions concerning the authenticity of your witness.  Complexity is the enemy for the reptilian brain as research has demonstrated the more complexity required in the thinking process the more the higher order thinking [rational] takes over.  This means that your witness should testify with a tight focus.  It also means that under cross-examination the witness should be prepared to fend off any complexity as well as reinforcing the focused case themes.

I mentioned in earlier posts that a large part of the work we do with witnesses is to focus the testimony on case themes and to “bullet proof” the witness.  We do this based on our understanding of the reptilian nature of decision making by jurors.