The Psychology of Legal Discourse: How Language Shapes Perception and Decision-Making in Court

Abstract

Legal language is a particular variety of professional language used in the legal system and has a significant impact on each stage of the judicial process concerning the perception of information and decision-making. This study focuses on the roles of psychology and legal language as it investigates how the linguistic factors influence the bias and feeling of judges, jurors, attorneys, and defendants in the courtroom. Framing, priming, anchoring, metaphors and analogies are some of the areas that the study explores to determine how language influences legal decisions. It focuses on the effectiveness of the storytelling approach in building narratives and the differences that the legal language makes in engagement and understanding. Heuristics and biases are the psychological assumptions and fallacies, which are used to consider how legal language affects decision-making cognition. This study also aims to look at how the use of emotional appeals and the tone and choice of words affects the perceptions of jurors and judges. Also, it looks at the impact of presenting a label and language comprehension to the defendants with a focus on clear language as crucial in delivering justice. The implications of the research stress the importance of understanding and practicing fair language use which respects the psychological and emotional states of clients, and encourage legal actors to work towards clear language in legal discourse. This research will fill the gap of applying the knowledge from psychology and linguistics to law and practice in order to make the language not a hindrance but the means for legal success.

Keywords: Psychology, Legal Discourse, Language, Courts, Perceptions, Decision-Making