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Law 101: Legal Guide for the Forensic Expert

Important Points to Remember

Psychologists observe that several doctrines are at work in the dispute resolution process, some of which can foretell the outcome of an otherwise close case. Among them are primacy, recency, repetition and the probability of human conduct:

  • Primary: The tendency is for people to believe the most and the longest what they hear first.
  • Recency:The tendency is for people to believe what they hear last.
  • Repetition: The tendency is for people to believe what they hear repeated often.
  • Probability of human conduct:: People are expected to act in certain ways in light of given circumstances. When they do act as expected, they are believable. When they do not act as expected, they are not believable.

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