Brian Bornstein, a professor from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Nebraska Law School, will be visiting Reno Oct. 8-9. Bornstein is the director of the social psychology program, associate director of the law/psychology program, and a courtesy professor of law at Nebraska. Bornstein's research efforts focus primarily on how juries, especially in civil cases, make decisions, and the reliability of eyewitness memory. Additional areas of focus are in the history of psychology, and applying decision-making principles to everyday judgment tasks, as in medical decision making and distributive justice.

Monday October 8 events:

His first presentation will be directed mainly toward graduate students, upper level undergrads, researchers, and faculty. It will be entitled "Is the Jury Still Out? Methodological Issues in Jury Research." The talk will discuss the pros/cons of various approaches to conducting jury research, such as experimental simulations, archival data analysis, observational studies, and field studies. He will emphasize new, innovative approaches of study. This talk will be Monday, Oct. 8 from 11-12:30 p.m. in Cain Hall Room 205.

He will be available from 1-4 pm for individual and private meetings with faculty or students. If you would like to schedule a meeting, please contact Monica Miller at mkmiller@unr.edu

His second presentation will be open to the public and called "Early Approaches to Psychology and Law: Philosophy, Theory, and Application in Eyewitness Memory Research." The talk will address the role of philosophy, theory, and application in eyewitness memory research by contrasting two seminal publications in psychology and law: Hugo Munsterberg's "On the Witness Stand" (1908), and G.F. Arnold's "Psychology Applied to Legal Evidence and Other Constructions of Law" (1906). He will illustrate the basic-vs-applied research debate in contemporary eyewitness memory research by examining research on the cross-race effect (i.e., the tendency to be better at recognizing individuals of one's own than other races). Contemporary researchers can still learn a great deal from a consideration of the themes raised in these historical texts. This talk will be Monday, Oct. 8 from 5:30-7 p.m. in Ansari Business Building Room 106.

After this talk, from approximately 7:30 to 8:30 p.m., faculty, researchers, and graduate students from all departments are invited to Archie's (on North Virginia) for social time.

Tuesday October 9 events:

He also will be meeting informally with grad students and faculty on Tuesday, Oct. 9 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Ansari Business Building Room AB 101. This will be an open discussion period.

If you have any questions about these talks, please contact Dr. Monica Miller at mkmiller@unr.edu or (775) 784-6021.

Sponsors of these events include:

• College of Liberal Arts Hilliard Endowment
• Criminal Justice
• Social Psychology
• Grant Sawyer Center for Justice Studies
• Psychology
• Political Science
• Philosophy
• Social Work
• Sociology
• ASUN
• Phi Alpha Delta