Biases, Heuristics, and Emotions in constitutional judges: An Examination of the Peruvian Constitutional Court
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21056/aec.v25i102.2040Keywords:
decision-making; heuristics; biases; emotions; constitutional courtAbstract
Since the end of the last century, various empirical investigations have shown that individual decisions are not always within the parameters of an expected rationality; on the contrary, judgments and decisions are often not rational. Our decisions are often influenced by supposedly irrelevant external factors such as heuristics, biases and emotions. This paper explains that these external factors are present in the decisions of magistrates of ordinary justice and constitutional judges, focusing the analysis on some decisions of the Peruvian Constitutional Court.
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