Event Title
Memory Accuracy and Blame Attribution as a Result of Manipulated Eyewitness Testimonies
Location
Parker-Reed, SSWAC
Start Date
1-5-2014 1:00 PM
End Date
1-5-2014 2:00 PM
Project Type
Poster
Description
The present study explored the reliability of eyewitness testimony, specifically examining the effects of implied blame and misleading information on a persons memory recall accuracy and blame attribution of a petty crime. Participants first watched a video clip of a crime that occurred in a park. Following the video, they read a written eyewitness testimony about this crime, written from the perspective of one of the actors in the video. There were nine different versions of this eyewitness testimony; each condition had varying levels of misleading post-event information and each condition either implied blame, implied innocence on one of the men from the video, or was neutral. Participants filled out a questionnaire, after reading the eyewitness testimony, which asked about basic details from the video as well as how much they blamed certain actors for the crime. A significant interaction was found between amount of misleading post-event information and memory accuracy; memory was more accurate with less misleading post-event information. These results suggest the malleable and unreliable nature of eyewitness memory.
Faculty Sponsor
Martha Arterberry
Sponsoring Department
Colby College. Psychology Dept.
CLAS Field of Study
Social Sciences
Event Website
http://www.colby.edu/clas
ID
430
Memory Accuracy and Blame Attribution as a Result of Manipulated Eyewitness Testimonies
Parker-Reed, SSWAC
The present study explored the reliability of eyewitness testimony, specifically examining the effects of implied blame and misleading information on a persons memory recall accuracy and blame attribution of a petty crime. Participants first watched a video clip of a crime that occurred in a park. Following the video, they read a written eyewitness testimony about this crime, written from the perspective of one of the actors in the video. There were nine different versions of this eyewitness testimony; each condition had varying levels of misleading post-event information and each condition either implied blame, implied innocence on one of the men from the video, or was neutral. Participants filled out a questionnaire, after reading the eyewitness testimony, which asked about basic details from the video as well as how much they blamed certain actors for the crime. A significant interaction was found between amount of misleading post-event information and memory accuracy; memory was more accurate with less misleading post-event information. These results suggest the malleable and unreliable nature of eyewitness memory.
https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/clas/2014/program/82