The social psychology of eyewitness accuracy: misleading questions and communicator expertise

Article Abstract:

In two studies we examined the effect of questioner expertise on the error rates of subjects who were asked misleading versus unbiased questions. A total of 105 introductory psychology students watched a videotaped clip of a bank robbery and were then questioned about the crime. The questioner was represented to subjects as either highly knowledgeable or completely naive about the events the subject witnessed. One half of the subjects in each expertise condition were asked misleading questions, and the other half were asked unbiased questions. In the knowledgeable questioner conditions, misleading questions were associated with error rates significantly higher than those obtained with the unbiased questions (p is less then .05). In the naive questioner conditions, equivalent error rates for both types of questions were obtained (ns). These results indicate that misleading questions decrease witness accuracy when the questioner is assumed to be knowledgeable about the crime, but have no effect on accuracy when the questioner is assumed to naive. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Communication, Communications, Psychology, Applied, Applied psychology, Questioning

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Eyewitness accuracy and confidence: within- versus between-subjects correlations

Article Abstract:

Previous researchers using between-subjects comparisons have found eyewitness confidence and accuracy to be only negligibly correlated. In this study, we examined the predictive power of confidence in within-subject terms. Ninety-six subjects answered, and made confidence ratings for, a series of questions about a crime they witnessed. The average between-subjects and within-subject accuracy-confidence correlations were comparably low: r = .14 (p is less than .001) and r = .17 (p is less than .001), respectively. Confidence is neither a useful predictor of the accuracy of a particular witness nor of the accuracy of particular statements made by the same witness. Another possible predictor of accuracy, response latency, correlated only negligibly with accuracy (r = .09 within subjects), but more strongly with confidence (r = -.27 within subjects). This pattern was obtained for both between-subjects and within-subject comparisons. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

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Impact of pretrial instruction on jurors' information processing and decision making

Article Abstract:

Examined were the effects of pretrial instruction in the procedural law, requirements of proof, and substantive law on mock jurors' recall and interpretation of the evidence presented at trial, comprehension of the law, verdict choice, and verdict latency. Students and community members (N = 125) were instructed before the evidence, after the evidence, both before and after the evidence, or not instructed at all. Two clear benefits of pretrial instruction emerged: Jurors instructed both before and after trial were better able to integrate facts and law, and preinstructed jurors more often deferred their verdict decisions until after the trial. Furthermore preinstruction did not impair jururs' information processing or decision making in any way. These results suggest that important benefits of substantive preinstruction can be realized without apparent cost to jurors' performance. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Decision-making, Decision making, Instructions to juries, Jury instructions, Human information processing, Jury, Juries

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