Cite as: 507 U. S. 619 (1993)
Stevens, J., concurring
rather what effect the error had or reasonably may be taken to have had upon the jury's decision. The crucial thing is the impact of the thing done wrong on the minds of other men, not on one's own, in the total setting.
"This must take account of what the error meant to them, not singled out and standing alone, but in relation to all else that happened. And one must judge others' reactions not by his own, but with allowance for how others might react and not be regarded generally as acting without reason. This is the important difference, but one easy to ignore when the sense of guilt comes strongly from the record." Id., at 764 (citations omitted).
The Kotteakos standard that will now apply on collateral review is less stringent than the Chapman v. California, 386 U. S. 18 (1967), standard applied on direct review. Given the critical importance of the faculty of judgment in administering either standard, however, that difference is less significant than it might seem—a point well illustrated by the differing opinions expressed by The Chief Justice and by Justice Kennedy in Arizona v. Fulminante, 499 U. S. 279, 302, 313 (1991). While The Chief Justice considered the admission of the defendant's confession harmless error under Chapman, see 499 U. S., at 312 (dissenting opinion), Justice Kennedyís cogent analysis demonstrated that the error could not reasonably have been viewed as harmless under a standard even more relaxed than the one we announce today, see id., at 313-314 (opinion concurring in judgment). In the end, the way we phrase the governing standard is far less important than the quality of the judgment with which it is applied.
Although our adoption of Kotteakos does impose a new standard in this context, it is a standard that will always require "the discrimination . . . of judgment transcending confinement by formula or precise rule. United States v.
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