Does post-identification feedback affect evaluations of eyewitness testimony and identification procedures?

Publication Title

Law and Human Behavior

Document Type

Article

Department or Program

Psychology

Publication Date

2010

Keywords

Eyewitness memory, Post-identification feedback, Testimony

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to test whether post-identification feedback affects evaluations of eyewitnesses. In Experiment 1 (N = 156), evaluators viewed eyewitness testimony. They evaluated witnesses who received confirming post-identification feedback as more accurate and more confident, among other judgments, compared with witnesses who received disconfirming post-identification feedback or no feedback. This pattern persisted regardless of whether the witness's confidence statement was included in the testimony. In Experiment 2 (N = 161), witness evaluators viewed the actual identification procedure in which feedback was delivered. Instructions to disregard the feedback were manipulated. Again, witnesses who received confirming feedback were assessed more positively. This pattern occurred even when witness evaluators received instructions to disregard the feedback. These experiments are the first to confirm researchers' assumptions that feedback effects on witnesses translate to changes in judgments of those witnesses. © 2009 American Psychology-Law Society/Division 41 of the American Psychological Association.

Comments

Original version is available from the publisher at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10979-009-9189-5

PubMed ID

19585229

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS