Susan Yamamoto

Dr. Susan Yamamoto serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Regina, where she directs the Normative Ethics and Law Lab (NELL). Her research program examines fundamental social processes in legal decision-making to promote fairness in justice systems.

Her academic background includes:

• BA Hons from the University of Manitoba
• MA & PhD from Carleton University's experimental forensic psychology program

Yamamoto's research centers on jury decision-making with specialized focus on insanity defence applications, racial/cultural dynamics in courtrooms, and the psychological underpinnings of punishment philosophies. She develops measurement tools using advanced psychometric methods and employs mixed-methodology approaches to investigate how utilitarian and retributive orientations shape legal judgments. Her work consistently addresses Canadian legal contexts with implications for judicial policy.

Analysis of her 2015-2021 publications reveals a cohesive research trajectory examining intersections of race, mental health, and legal decision-making. Key trends include methodological innovations in mock jury studies, cross-cultural comparisons of punishment ethics, and development of validated scales for psychological constructs relevant to courtroom dynamics. Her collaborative work with Dr. Evelyn Maeder dominates this output, demonstrating sustained research partnerships.

As an active supervisor, Yamamoto advises graduate students in psychology with opportunities in experimental legal psychology. Her lab infrastructure and publication record indicate successful grant funding for projects examining justice system biases and decision-making processes, though specific grant details aren't provided in available materials.

The Normative Ethics and Law Lab provides specialized resources for experimental research on legal ethics, maintaining an active web presence (https://www.nellab.info) that facilitates collaboration and disseminates findings to legal practitioners and policymakers.