Robert: Encouraging Dissent
After graduating, I went into law school. Recently, I started working as a Traffic Court judge. One thing that has helped me in my job is being aware of Asch’s conformity studies. In my role, I select panels of volunteers to serve as judges. The last thing I want is for every judge to agree with each other because that could lead to a bad result. When I craft these panels, I look for people who are experienced with Traffic Court and have confidence in their own judgment. I am also responsible for guiding discussion during deliberations, and I make it clear that people should dissent if they feel strongly about a point of view.
As I have done more of these panels, I have found that judges with more experience are more likely to dissent. When the judges are not as experienced, they are more likely to go along with something that I or another experienced judge has said. To counteract this, I make sure everyone has read the materials beforehand and try to recruit more experienced judges. Without being aware of Asch’s conformity studies, I would not have been aware of the power of having a dissenting opinion and the value of encouraging one.