Order effects in multiple decisions by groups: A demonstration with mock juries and trial procedures.

We assessed the effects of the order in which groups undertake different tasks in a multitask situation, using mock juries. Subjects watched a videotaped enactment of a criminal trial involving three joined charges and then, either individually or as members of six-person groups, decided on the guilt or innocence of the defendant on all three charges in one of three orders: descending seriousness, ascending seriousness, or no specified order. The results, concerning the charge of medium seriousness (the middle charge of both specified orders), showed that the proportion of convictions for both individuals and groups was greater in the descending seriousness order. Further analyses showed that conviction on earlier charges significantly increased the relative frequency of conviction on later charges. These findings are discussed in relation both to earlier results that support a contrast explanation of such order effects and to the influence of task order on group decision processes in general. Procedural factors in human interaction have come to be recognized as an important class of variables in group performance. The now classic work by Thibaut and Walker (1975) on procedural justice called attention to such issues (e.g., the order and patterning of case facts) by analogy with the courtroom trial. It is not surprising that the courtroom is a place where important and thorough attention is given to procedural matters, because a tranquil society requires a widespread belief in at least the procedural fairness of formal interactions designed to settle disputes and conflicts. What is surprising, however, is that procedural issues have not been recognized earlier as an important object for em