HELLO, I'M
Samantha Bean
PhD Student in Law & Psychology at Arizona State University
About
MY BACKGROUND
Hi, I'm Sam! I'm a PhD Candidate at Arizona State University in the Law & Psychology program. I am passionate about learning about the legal system and how psychology can extend our understanding of how attention and emotions, evidence presentation, and extra-legal factors influence legal decision-making.
​
I'm interested in pursuing full-time opportunities in the trial/jury consulting field and have experience with facilitating focus groups and mock trials, conducting social media searches, building surveys, and analyzing data with different procedures and techniques.
Research
Selected Research Presentations & Publications
-
Presentation from American Psychology-Law Society 2025 Conference sharing research investigating the effects of defendant wealth and identity in civil mock juror decision-making. Across three personal injury lawsuits, mock jurors were more confident in liable verdicts against corporations (vs individuals) and wealthy (vs poor) defendants, suggesting jurors might punish wealth over wrongdoing.
-
Data Blitz from American Psychology-Law Society 2023 Conference sharing research on the relationship between compensatory and punitive damage awards using over 350 real civil cases (Study 1) and 12 mock juror studies about real civil cases (Study 2).
-
Presentation from American Psychology-Law Society 2022 Conference sharing research on what behavioral indicators influence suspicion when someone calls 911 to report a crime.
-
Paper published in Law & Human Behavior in 2021 sharing research on the impact of minimal vs extended voir dire and the impacts of judicial rehabilitation across three mock juror experiments.
-
Master's Thesis investigating investigating how timing and length of exposure to emotionally evocative evidence affects mock jurors' emotions, verdicts, and punishment decision, related.
-
​Related Presentation from American Psychology-Law Society 2020 Conference. ​
-
Education
WHAT I’VE LEARNED
PhD Law & Psychology
Arizona State University, Expected 2025
Master of Science in Psychology
Arizona State University, 2020
Thesis: The effects of differential exposure to gruesome photographs on mock jurors' emotions & legal judgments
Bachelor of Science in Psychology, Psychological Science
Arizona State University, 2017
Experience
Trial Consulting
Facilitation
Facilitate mock trials, focus groups, and post-project interview debriefs
Data Analysis
Analyze mock trial data & identify themes from jurors' attitudes and experiences to predict leanings and case decisions
Juror Profiles
Identify and assess social media profiles of potential jurors in civil cases
Survey Building
Build custom surveys using online platforms (Qualtrics, QuestionPro) with different case presentations to assess mock jurors' opinions and legal decisions in civil and criminal cases
Awards
WHERE I SHINE
-
Graduate & Professional Student Association Travel Award (2019, 2020, 2023, 2024, 2025)
-
American Psychology-Law Society Travel Award
-
American Psychology-Law Society Outstanding Student Presentation in Legal Research Award
Grants
FUNDING
-
Graduate & Professional Student Association Research Grant ($2,000)
-
Graduate & Professional Student Association Professional Development Grant ($550)
-
Department of Psychology Research Grant ($1,000)
​
Skills
WHAT I BRING TO THE TABLE
Data Analysis - SPSS, R Studio, Excel
Surveys & Questionnaires - Qualtrics, QuestionPro, SurveyMonkey
Adobe Audition
Adobe Photoshop
