The Pivotal Voter Effect: Jurors and Members of Other Decision-Making Groups Are Motivated to be Decisive

Does the possibility of indecision bias group decision making? Across three studies, we present evidence from U.S. juries and controlled lab studies showing that pivotal voters are biased to vote for options that result in conclusive (vs. inconclusive) outcomes, resulting in drastically different group decisions (e.g., convictions versus hung juries).