Recently I have seen posts to the effect it is demeaning to jurors to “appeal to the reptilian brain.” When we understand the reality of the reptilian brain and how it is thought to play a role in decision making we have a duty as advocates to recognize there is nothing wrong with advocacy that appeals to the reptilian part of the brain.
Appealing to the “reptilian brain” began as a Madison Avenue selling concept developed by Clotaire Rapaille a European psychologist. Mr. Rapaille initially studied autism in children. He theorized there are “code words” that lead to conduct. Finding a particular code word helped in treating an autistic child. Mr. Rapaille believes the “code” is within the reptilian brain, regardless of wheather a person is autistic.
From there Mr. Rapaille changed his career to help large corporations find their “code” to appeal to the reptilian brain of the consumer. He teaches “the reptile always wins.” This means final decisions are made subconsciously based on buried codes within the reptilian brain that Mr. Rapaille terms “the reptilian hot button.”
Exhibit A for Mr. Rapaille is the Hummer SUV. He explains the Hummer does not make logical sense as most people drive their vehicles on city streets. For an SUV Clotaire Rapaille explains the code is “domination.” Thus, the Hummer sells because it is the dominate vehicle on the road. This appeals to the reptilian “sense of safety” which is where the purchase decision is made as “the reptile always wins.”
From an advocacy standpoint it makes good sense to recognize what major corporations recognize and have used for years. That is the reptilian brain is a key component to decision making. Jurors like all of us seek safety and security. We all have the reptilian brain and we all dislike conduct that is dangerous.
In our system when the case gets to trial the dangerous conduct has already taken place. When the dangerous conduct effects or potentially effects all of us we naturally what to stop it from happening again. For jurors the only way to stop the conduct from happening again is through a money judgment. In our society a money judgment sends a message the dangerous conduct is unacceptable and must stop or not happen again.
There is nothing sinister about this reality. The lawyer for an injured plaintiff is not trying to sell a product. The lawyer is trying to accomplish justice. The lawyer has a duty to point out dangers to the jury. The jury has a civic duty to act through a money judgment of fair compensation. When this is done a twofold benefit to society occurs: Plaintiff receives fair compensation for injuries caused by the wrongdoer and the wrongdoer receives the message society does not accept the wrongful conduct.
In our next post we discuss the reality of the emotional subconscious part of our brain and how it impacts decisions.
Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.
Thank you for the kind input. My blog is relatively new, and meant to promote the representation of injured people. As the name Zen Lawyer connotes the blog will flow naturally on the web and be picked up as it is meant to be.
WOW. I found this blog on Bing poking around for something completely unrelated- now I’m going to have to go back and go through all the archives 🙂 Good bye free time this Sunday!
This is positively one of the most fascinating sites I’ve seen. It is so easy to assume you’ve seen it all, but there are some decent things online, and I feel your place is really one of them!
No joke you know what you are talking about , thank you
I never would have thought how much stuff there was on the internet on this! Thank you for making this all easy to grasp
Thanks Deborah. I enjoy your posts as well.
This website is my idea. The design is the work of Chris Costa Legal Web Design Lawyer’s Court in Chicago. If you go to the top of the blog and click Kirkland Personal Injury you will get my law website. At the bottom of the footer is a link to Chris Costa. The blog posts are my original work based on studying law, practicing law, trying cases since 1983, and reading and thinking beyond the law.
you have a good taste.
I really learned a lot. I appreciate the effort put into this site and will visit here more often. Thank You!
Hey may I reference some of the material here in this blog if I link back to you?
sure
Fine share, excellent article, very usefull for me…thanks
Excellent post, appreciate it, always a good read here!
I found this website totally by accident when I was searching for something else totally unrelated. They say the best things in life are accidents though and this site is no exception. Please keep up the excellent work as I plan to look for your blog routinely.
Im going to tell you now, I believe im adding you to my favorite writers list. This is such a nice post and really hit the nail on the head for me. Please continue. Your readers appreciate you.
Thanks man. Your blog is cool.
Insightfull post. Never thought that it was this simple. I have spent a great deal of time looking for someone to clarify this subject and you’re the only person that ever did that. I really appreciate it! I can’t wait to stop back and read more!
Hello to all 🙂 I can’t understand how to add your site in my rss reader. Help me, please
Usefull post can i have your permision to translate into Dutch for our blogs viewers? Thanks
Freakin nice blog.
This site has wonderful content.
Very useful post, really helped me and also thanks for mentioning around the plugin to control needless pinging.
Excellent material. Very insightful.
Good style – I am happy to read all your posts.
Good post, its nice to see some real analysis! http://anthonyhughesbankruptcyattorney.com/
Thank you for sharing superb information. Your web-site is very cool. I am impressed by the details on this site. Bookmarked your blog, will come back. You, my pal, ROCK!
Hey i just visited your site for the first time and i really liked it, i bookmarked it and will be back 😀
Thankyou for this marvellous post, I am glad I discovered this web site on yahoo.
Amazing post, man! Keep it up!
[…] É o apelo à “ganância” inerente a todos os seres humanos e um apelo à “lei de Gerson”: “levar vantagem”, que é um script comportamental inscrito no nosso inconsciente e que se revelou bastante útil nos últimos 4 bilhões de anos de evolução, é um script muito primitivo e portanto muito forte, fazendo apelo a nossas emoções primárias. Gravado no nosso cérebro reptiliano (o tronco cerebral, a parte mais primitiva do cérebro, do tamanho de um dedo), como diz o psicólogo empresarial Clotaire Rapaille em seu livro: “O réptil sempre vence. […]
Thanks for posting.