It all seems to make perfect sense. In a case with an injured plaintiff, the best jurors for the plaintiff would be folks who could relate to her, and who could picture themselves in her shoes, right? That is the common thought among both plaintiff and defense counsel in most cases. As a result, the defense will tend to use a jury selection practice to determine which jurors will identify most with the plaintiff and strike them, while plaintiff counsel will focus on striking folks unlike their clients. The question is: Are both sides striking the wrong people?

First, let’s look at the psychological theory behind the premise of identification with another person. Taking a step back, Henri Tajfel and John Turner explain the basic process of group identification in their social identity theory. First, they say, in order to psychologically simplify our world, we naturally categorize people into groups. The most basic of these groups is based on easily identifiable traits such as race and gender. That said, categorizations may be based on any trait that is salient at the time, such as socio-economic status, career, interests and skills. After we have made our categorizations, we identify or associate ourselves with certain groups and consider these our in-groups. Finally, we compare and contrast our in-groups with other groups.

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