LAUSR

ABSTRACT Psychologists and other mental health professionals are frequently called upon by the courts to provide professional opinions on a multitude of psycholegal issues in civil and criminal proceedings. With the expectation for sound, objective opinions and the regularity with which these forensic assessments occur, the crucial role of evaluators is undeniable; however, research has confirmed the presence of bias in some psychological evaluations (Murrie, Boccaccini, Guarnera, & Rufino, 2013; see Neal & Grisso, 2014 for a discussion). Investigations regarding bias awareness reveal that most individuals lack recognition of their own biases in comparison with their perceptions of bias in others—an issue known as the bias blind spot (Pronin, Lin, & Ross, 2002)—but persist in believing introspection to be an effective technique for reducing bias (Neal & Brodsky, 2016; Zapf, Kukucka, Kassin, & Dror, 2017), despite research indicating that introspection is ineffective for reducing bias (Pronin & Kugler, 2007). The current study surveyed a sample of forensic mental health professionals (N = 80) to assess for a “bias blind spot” among forensic evaluators and to explore the effectiveness of an intervention to reduce reliance on introspection as a debiasing technique. There was evidence for a bias blind spot among evaluators and a high level of endorsement for the use of introspection. However, the intervention used to decrease reliance on introspection did not have an effect, indicating the need for additional research on effective strategies for reducing the bias blind spot and educating evaluators about those strategies.