The effect of post-identification feedback, delay, and suspicion on accurate eyewitnesses

Publication Title

Law and Human Behavior

Document Type

Article

Department or Program

Psychology

Publication Date

2012

Keywords

accessibility hypothesis, accurate eyewitnesses, cautiousness hypothesis, delay, erasure hypothesis, post-identification feedback, suspicion

Abstract

We examined whether post-identification feedback and suspicion affect accurate eyewitnesses. Participants viewed a video event and then made a lineup decision from a target-present photo lineup. Regardless of accuracy, the experimenter either, informed participants that they made a correct lineup decision or gave no information regarding their lineup decision. Immediately following the lineup decision or after a 1-week delay, a second experimenter gave some of the participants who received confirming feedback reason to be suspicious of the confirming feedback. Following immediately after the confirming feedback, accurate witnesses did not demonstrate certainty inflation. However, after a delay accurate witnesses did demonstrate certainty inflation typically associated with confirming feedback. The suspicion manipulation only affected participants' certainty when the confirming feedback created certainty inflation. The results lend support to the accessibility interpretation of the post-identification feedback effect and the erasure interpretation of the suspicion effect. © 2011 American Psychological Association.

Comments

Original version is available from the publisher at: https://doi.org/10.1037/h0093970

PubMed ID

22667810

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