• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.159-178
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to 1) replicate the Wells effect(i.e., reluctance to rule against the Defendant solely on the basis of probabilistic evidence) in Korea and 2) examine the validity of an Alternative explanation(i.e., perception of risk of wrong verdict). In study 1(n=46), mock jurors in the tire-tracks condition were reluctant to rule against the defendant based on their perceived probability and this pattern was not resulted in the tire-tracks-belief condition. Therefore, the Wells effect was replicated in Korea. In study 2(n=70), we manipulated the participants' perception of risk of wrong verdict. That is, participants who were assigned in the high risk perception of wrong verdict were informed that if the defendant were found guilty, the defendant would get considerable demage both in finance and reputation of the company. Participants in the low risk perception of wrong verdict condition were informed that these demage would not be great. The results revealed that the Wells effect was pronounced in the high risk perception of wrong verdict condition. That is, participants were more reluctant to rule against the defendant when they perceive the significance of the result of wrong verdict as high. Limitations of the study and the directions for future study were discussed.