{"id":240185,"date":"2025-10-24T13:05:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T13:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inst-krim.si\/sentrix\/?p=240185"},"modified":"2025-10-24T13:05:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T13:05:17","slug":"behavioural-economics-and-law-how-we-decide-in-the-mind-in-institutions-and-on-the-screen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inst-krim.si\/sentrix\/behavioural-economics-and-law-how-we-decide-in-the-mind-in-institutions-and-on-the-screen\/","title":{"rendered":"Behavioural Economics and Law: How We Decide \u2013 in the Mind, in Institutions, and on the Screen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”9px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”||0px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]

At the 51st Slovenian Lawyers\u2019 Days (Portoro\u017e, 16\u201317 October 2025), a thought-provoking panel focused on Behavioural Economics and Law. The session, chaired by Jaka Cepec, explored how insights from behavioural science \u2013 from Kahneman\u2019s dual-system theory to the latest findings on digital influence \u2013 are reshaping our understanding of legal decision-making. Alongside Cepec, the panel featured Mojca Plesni\u010dar and Manja Sko\u010dir, whose contributions approached behavioural influences from two connected but distinct perspectives: the institutional and the digital. The discussion was complemented by Lana Katarina Gotvan, who examined procrastination among company directors through a behavioural lens.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_3_font=”Mojca-123-slo|–et_global_heading_font_weight|||||||” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]

The Architecture of Legal Decision-Making<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Mojca Plesni\u010dar presented her paper The Architecture of Legal Decision-Making, which applies the concept of choice architecture to professional legal reasoning. She argued that even highly trained legal professionals \u2013 judges, prosecutors, lawyers, and legislators \u2013 are subject to the same cognitive biases as laypeople. The key difference lies in their institutional environment, which itself operates as a form of choice architecture.<\/p>\n

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Plesni\u010dar illustrated how features such as the order of presenting evidence, default procedural options, or even the design of legal forms can subtly shape decisions. She emphasised that decision environments are never neutral: their structure can either reinforce biases or help reduce them. Her conclusion \u2013 that choice architecture can be part of the solution rather than merely the problem when recognised and consciously designed \u2013 resonates directly with the aims of the Sentrix project, which investigates how institutional and cognitive structures interact in sentencing and other forms of legal decision-making.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_3_font=”Mojca-123-slo|–et_global_heading_font_weight|||||||” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]

Digital Nudges and Dark Patterns<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Manja Sko\u010dir presented Digital Nudges and Dark Patterns \u2013 How Technology Exploits Our Behavioural Weaknesses, addressing the other side of behavioural influence \u2013 the one embedded in digital environments. She explained how digital platforms increasingly rely on behavioural insights to design user interfaces that steer people\u2019s attention and choices, often without their awareness. While digital nudges can serve legitimate goals (such as improving security or promoting sustainable choices), they easily slip into dark patterns \u2013 manipulative design techniques that deceive users or push them towards actions that do not serve their interests.<\/p>\n

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Sko\u010dir showed that the digital environment, enhanced by data analytics, personalisation, and constant presence, amplifies behavioural effects far beyond what is possible in analogue settings. She also analysed the emerging EU regulatory responses, such as the Digital Services Act and the Artificial Intelligence Act, highlighting the growing tension between behavioural influence, user autonomy, and legal protection in the digital sphere.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_3_font=”Mojca-123-slo|–et_global_heading_font_weight|||||||” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]

Shared Framework and Relevance for Sentrix<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Together, the two presentations illustrated how behavioural economics provides a powerful lens for understanding law \u2013 not only as a system of rules, but as an environment of decisions. Plesni\u010dar examined the internal architecture of legal institutions, while Sko\u010dir exposed the digital architectures that increasingly shape our choices and perceptions. <\/span><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_cta button_text=”Click Here” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#E02B20″ background_enable_image=”off” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{%22gcid-primary-color%22:%91%22button_text_color%22,%22button_text_color%22%93}” sticky_enabled=”0″]

Their insights converge in the central premise of Sentrix: that law operates within layered decision-making architectures \u2013 human, institutional, and technological \u2013 and that recognising and designing these structures consciously can lead to more consistent, transparent, and just outcomes.<\/span><\/p>[\/et_pb_cta][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the 51st Slovenian Lawyers\u2019 Days (Portoro\u017e, 16\u201317 October 2025), a thought-provoking panel focused on Behavioural Economics and Law. The session, chaired by Jaka Cepec, explored how insights from behavioural science \u2013 from Kahneman\u2019s dual-system theory to the latest findings on digital influence \u2013 are reshaping our understanding of legal decision-making. Alongside Cepec, the panel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":240190,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-240185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inst-krim.si\/sentrix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inst-krim.si\/sentrix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inst-krim.si\/sentrix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inst-krim.si\/sentrix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inst-krim.si\/sentrix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inst-krim.si\/sentrix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inst-krim.si\/sentrix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inst-krim.si\/sentrix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inst-krim.si\/sentrix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inst-krim.si\/sentrix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}