The Psychology of Lineup Identifications1

A review is made of issues and data on eyewitness identifications, and a relative-judgment conceptualization is proposed. It is argued that eyewitnesses are prone to choose the lineup member who most resembles the perpetrator relative to other lineup members as evidenced by studies that manipulated similarity of lineup members. The relative-judgment strategy is fallacious because of the unpredictable occurrence of target-absent lineups and is not corrected fully by instructions to eyewitnesses. An extension of the relative-judgment conceptualization proposes an inverse relationship between the goodness of witnesses' memories (quality and quantity of relevant information available in memory) and witnesses' tendencies to rely on relative judgments. This extended conceptualization was used to derive expectations regarding an experiment (N= 192 eyewitnesses) that used a blank lineup prior to presenting eyewitnesses with the actual lineup. The data indicated that a blank lineup can yield a diagnostic split of eyewitnesses; those who made no identification when presented with a blank lineup were less likely to make false identifications on the actual lineup than either the witnesses who identified someone from the blank lineup or the witnesses who were not presented with a blank lineup. The blank lineup did not produce a significant loss in accurate identifications. The practical implications of using blank lineups and the theoretical utility of the relative-judgment conceptualization are discussed.     

How schemas affect eyewitness memory over repeated retrieval attempts

After observing a crime eyewitnesses are typically interviewed many times over an extended period of time. We examined how schema for a crime influenced the types of information eyewitnesses remembered and forgot across multiple interviews. People's schema for a bank robbery were identified, and recall of schema‐consistent, schema‐inconsistent and schema‐irrelevant information was extracted from eyewitness interviews conducted in two experiments which manipulated retention interval (3 days–12 weeks) and number of interviews (2–4). Consistent with fuzzy‐trace and associative network theories, schemas preserved accuracy for information central to the crime (schema‐consistent and inconsistent) at the expense of schema‐irrelevant information. Schema‐consistent intrusions did not increase across interviews. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

‘So Help Me God’? Does oath swearing in courtroom scenarios impact trial outcomes?

In countries such as Britain and the US, court witnesses must declare they will provide truthful evidence and are often compelled to publicly choose between religious (“oath”) and secular (“affirmation”) versions of this declaration. Might defendants who opt to swear an oath enjoy more favourable outcomes than those who choose to affirm? Two preliminary, pre-registered survey studies using minimal vignettes (Study 1, N = 443; Study 2, N = 913) indicated that people associate choice of the oath with credible testimony; and that participants, especially religious participants, discriminate against defendants who affirm. In a third, Registered Report study (Study 3, N = 1821), we used a more elaborate audiovisual mock trial paradigm to better estimate the real-world influence of declaration choice. Participants were asked to render a verdict for a defendant who either swore or affirmed, and were themselves required to swear or affirm that they would try the defendant in good faith. Overall, the defendant was not considered guiltier when affirming rather than swearing, nor did mock-juror belief in God moderate this effect. However, jurors who themselves swore an oath did discriminate against the affirming defendant. Exploratory analyses suggest this effect may be driven by authoritarianism, perhaps because high-authoritarian jurors consider the oath the traditional (and therefore correct) declaration to choose. We discuss the real-world implications of these findings and conclude the religious oath is an antiquated legal ritual that needs reform.     

Postidentification feedback affects real eyewitnesses

Many studies of simulated eyewitness situations have shown that under certain laboratory conditions, people's confidence about their identifications predicts their accuracy, but that their reported confidence can be affected by telling them that they chose the suspect. In this study, eyewitnesses (n= 134) to real crimes took part in lineups at an identification suite in the United Kingdom and were asked questions about their memory both before and after they were told whether they had identified the suspect or a filler. Before the eyewitnesses were told whether they had identified the suspect or a filler, their responses to several questions reliably differentiated between those who identified the suspect and those who identified a filler. In addition, responses to the memory questions were affected by telling the eyewitnesses whether or not they had identified the suspect. These results show that postidentification feedback affects real eyewitnesses and highlight the importance of recording meta-memory variables before an eyewitness discovers whether he or she has identified the suspect.     

Successful detection of verbal and visual concealed knowledge using an RT‐based paradigm

An increasing number of researchers are exploring variations of the Concealed Knowledge Test (CKT) as alternatives to traditional ‘lie‐detector’ tests. For example, the response times (RT)‐based CKT has been previously shown to accurately detect participants who possess privileged knowledge. Although several studies have reported successful RT‐based tests, they have focused on verbal stimuli despite the prevalence of photographic evidence in forensic investigations. Related studies comparing pictures and phrases have yielded inconsistent results. The present work compared an RT‐CKT using verbal phrases as stimuli to one using pictures of faces. This led to equally accurate and efficient tests using either stimulus type. Results also suggest that previous inconsistent findings may be attributable to study procedures that led to better memory for verbal than visual items. When memory for verbal phrases and pictures were equated, we found nearly identical detection accuracies. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Repetition, not number of sources, increases both susceptibility to misinformation and confidence in the accuracy of eyewitnesses

Are claims more credible when made by multiple sources, or is it the repetition of claims that matters? Some research suggests that claims have more credibility when independent sources make them. Yet, other research suggests that simply repeating information makes it more accessible and encourages reliance on automatic processes—factors known to change people's judgments. In Experiment 1, people took part in a “misinformation” study: people first watched a video of a crime and later read eyewitness reports attributed to one or three different eyewitnesses who made misleading claims in either one report or repeated the same misleading claims across all three reports. In Experiment 2, people who had not seen any videos read those same reports and indicated how confident they were that each claim happened in the original event. People were more misled by—and more confident about—claims that were repeated, regardless of how many eyewitnesses made them. We hypothesize that people interpreted the familiarity of repeated claims as markers of accuracy. These findings fit with research showing that repeating information makes it seem more true, and highlight the power of a single repeated voice.     

Child survivors and childbearing; memories from the Holocaust invading the present

In this article—based on 40 video-taped interviews with Jewish child survivors—the author discusses how memories from the Holocaust invade the present and affect one of the most sensitive phases of the life cycle, the period of reproduction. This is discussed as applied psychoanalytic research of oral testimonies. Four areas of knowledge—history, autobiography narrative, cognitive memory research and psychoanalytical theory—are argued to help to elucidate memories and understand the tremendous force which the intersection exerts on them in the present, which is the fundamental idea of this article. The author discusses both the possibility to work through massive traumas, and the distorted concept of time. The Nazi deeds which were intended to eliminate women and children, to split families, that is, break down the continuity of life, affected both those who were directly involved, and those women and men who witnessed these deeds.     

Memory for emotionally arousing events over time in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Emotionally arousing events are typically better remembered and more resistant to forgetting than neutral events. Findings from word list paradigms suggest that this may not hold for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), who also tend to be less accurate as eyewitnesses under some circumstances. To test whether attenuated effects of arousal on memory may be responsible for poorer eyewitness testimonies in ASD, we asked adults with and without the disorder to view either arousing or neutral versions of a narrated slide sequence (Experiment 1) or video clip (Experiment 2) before assessing their memory for the material. Both groups exhibited increases in psychophysiological arousal during the arousing compared with the neutral version of the narratives, and both groups also demonstrated a memory advantage for the arousing events. Contrary to predictions, these observations indicate that stimulus induced arousal modulates memory for naturalistic events relatively typically in ASD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Individual differences in information order effects: The importance of right-hemisphere access in belief updating

The order in which information is received alters the evaluation of causal hypotheses. Specifically, research suggests that the last piece of information oftentimes has the greatest impact on the evaluation and that the difference in subjective value between two pieces of information is an important factor influencing the magnitude of this recency effect. The present paper extends this line of work by exploring individual differences in this phenomenon via one's degree of handedness. Two hundred and five participants were given two hypothetical scenarios and related causal hypotheses accompanied by two pieces of additional information and asked to revise their belief in each hypothesis as information accumulated. Results confirmed predictions that 1) inconsistent/mixed-handers (those who use their non-dominant hand for at least some activities) show a larger effect with two pieces of inconsistent weak or strong information, and 2) neither mixed-handers nor consistent/strong-handers (those who use their dominant hand for almost all activities) show an effect with strong and weak pieces of consistent information. Mixed-handers' susceptibility to persuasive arguments and Ramachandran’s (1995; Ramachandran and Blakeslee, 1998) belief-updating theory centered around communication between the two halves of the brain and functional access to the right hemisphere are used to account for these data.     

The influence of social instructions on the effectiveness of a cognitive interview used with very young child witnesses

IntroductionThe modified cognitive interview (MCI) is an investigative interview method used to help child eyewitnesses to enhance the quality of their testimonies (Memon et al., 2010). Composed of cognitive (mnemonics) and social instructions, it indeed supports young witnesses to retrieve and to accurately report all their memories. If the benefits of the mnemonics on the MCI efficiency have been now established (e.g., Holliday & Albon, 2004; Verkampt & Ginet, 2010), the contribution of its social components has however not been deeply explored to date. This is notably the case of two main social instructions presented at the right beginning of an interview: the “Child can say ‘I don’t know”’ and the “Interviewer knows nothing about the facts” instructions.ObjectiveThis study aimed at evaluating the influence of these two social instructions on the effectiveness of MCI mnemonics, designed to be used by police officers to gather very young children's testimonies.MethodTo this end, 59 children aged 4 to 5.9 participated in a painting session and were interviewed two days later with a full modified cognitive interview (MCI), a MCI minus the “Child can say I don’t know” instruction, a MCI minus the “Interviewer knows nothing about the event” instruction, or a structured (control) interview that was solely composed of social instructions.ResultsThe results indicated an increase of 42% more correct information recollected with a full MCI relative to a structured interview during the free recall phase. However, the withdrawal of the “Interviewer knows nothing about the event” instruction from the MCI led the children to report 21% less information. This drop reached 3% with the MCI minus the “Child can say I don’t know” instruction.ConclusionChildren testimonies are therefore more informative when the mnemonics of the MCI are presented to the children along with social instructions.     

宣誓动作对大学生诚信认知和诚信感的影响

从具身认知的角度探索了中国文化中的宣誓动作与诚信概念之间的关系,并进一步探讨了做出宣誓的动作后,是否会影响大学生被试的诚信感.结果发现:(1)被试看到做宣誓动作的人会更容易联想到这个人具有诚信的特质;(2)做出宣誓动作后的被试能够体验到更高的诚信感.结论:宣誓动作与诚信概念之间存在无意识的自动化连结,做出宣誓的动作能够...     

Cognitive Lie Detection: Response Time and Consistency of Answers as Cues to Deception

Purpose  The purpose of this study was to test a new cognitive lie detection method, time restricted integrity confirmation (Tri-Con), which uses response time and inconsistencies across answers as cues to deception. Design/methodology/approach   Data were obtained from two samples of students enrolled in psychology classes (n = 96 for Experiment 1, n = 99 for Experiment 2). The experimental task required students to lie or tell the truth to questions probing biodata under time restriction. The foci of questions (such as Academics or Employment History) were chosen because of their relevance to participants’ lives. Findings  Tri-Con was able to distinguish between truth tellers and liars after controlling for individual differences. In one experiment, liar-truth teller classification accuracies reached 89%. Mean response times and answer consistency can be used to distinguish those who lie from those who tell the truth. Implications  Research on cognitive-based lie detectors, such as Tri-Con, hold the potential for developing reliable and valid methods of screening out employees likely to engage in misconduct and providing deceptive answers to screening questions. A cognitive lie detector would constitute a paradigm shift away from the polygraph, and could be used in tandem with integrity tests. Originality/value   This study was a preliminary test of a cognitive lie detection method based on a model of cognitive events (the Activation-Decision-Construction model) when people answer questions deceptively. It constitutes a step in translating laboratory-based cognitive research into applied technologies for the real world detection of lying, including lying that occurs during pre-employment screening. Received and reviewed by former editor, George Neuman.     

It's about time we had a professional oath in psychology

Symbols and ceremony are an important element in the formation and continuation of all societies. They enunciate the values of the citizenry or the membership of the society, and often provide the only tangible representation of those values. Furthermore, little has been written about the process of “formation” of identity of professional psychologists. One issue that has received little attention in terms of its symbolic importance as well as its capacity to aid formation concerns the development of an oath for professional psychologists. This paper considers the need for a professional oath for Australian psychologists. The concept of the professional oath is explored, and an examination of the merits of adopting a professional oath is considered. The practical issues of adopting a professional oath will then be briefly examined. The paper concludes by recommending that professional oath taking by psychologists be initiated as a matter of high priority.     

Can I borrow a feeling? Spillover of negative arousal from inconsistent information during attitude formation diminishes perceptions of well-being

This research examines the extent to which the negative arousal caused by valence inconsistent supraliminal behavioral information and subliminal primes during attitude formation affects people's perceptions of their current well-being. Participants who received inconsistent information about a novel individual during an impression formation task reported more negative arousal, lower self-esteem, greater depression, and greater perceived stress than those in a control condition. Mediational analyses indicated that negative arousal stemming from attitude formation with valence inconsistent information guided participants' responses to well-being measures via misattribution of this arousal. These results cannot be explained by a simple response bias because recall of negative physical symptoms in the past 2 weeks were unaffected by receiving valence inconsistent information. This research suggests that the spillover of negative arousal from attitude formation, when unable to be easily attributed to the attitude object, served as a cue that people utilized when determining how they felt.     

An eyewitness paradox

Two methods of analysing data from an identification parade give rise to seemingly contradictory outcomes, both of which reach statistical significance. The traditional method is based on the first choices of eyewitnesses, whereas the paired-comparison method takes account of each eyewitness's full rank ordering of the lineup participants. The person that most eyewitnesses pick out as the perpetrator of an offence (according to the first-choice method) may in fact be the person that those same eyewitnesses as a group regard as least likely to have committed the act (according to the paired-comparison method). Implications of the paradox for the analysis of lineup data are considered.     

Effect of personal involvement in traumatic events on memory: The case of the Dolphinarium explosion

The association between memories of the terrorist explosion at the Dolphinarium discotheque in Tel Aviv and the level of personal involvement in the explosion was investigated. Memories of injured victims, uninjured eyewitnesses, and uninvolved controls who learned about the explosion from the mass media were compared. It was expected that memory of the explosion would be most and least detailed and accurate among the victims and the controls, respectively. The participants responded to an open-ended question about the explosion, as well as to specific and multiple-choice questions. Data analyses showed that the victims and the eyewitnesses remembered more details than the controls, and that the victims remembered both central and peripheral details more accurately than the other participants. Degree of involvement in the same traumatic experience was thus shown to be differentially associated with memory accuracy.     

冲突情境下幼儿的选择性信任和信念修正

幼儿如何选择性地采信他人提供的信息、获取知识, 是幼儿社会认知发展研究的重要问题。除客观的信息内容外, 信息传递者的特征也影响幼儿的选择性信任。另外, 在不确定情境下, 他人证言与幼儿已有信念可能存在冲突, 在二者冲突的情境下, 幼儿是否可以采信他人的证言, 并最终改变幼儿的已有判断是以往研究忽略的问题。本研究考察了当母亲证言与幼儿已有信念冲突时, 不同程度的冲突情境(面对不同比例的合成动物时)对幼儿选择性信任和信念修正的影响。研究采用冲突信息源范式, 向74名4~6岁幼儿呈现对不同比例合成动物(50%-50%任务 vs 75%-25%任务)命名的证言, 考察幼儿对信息提供者的询问意愿、对证言的信任情况和在证言前后对合成动物的判断(信念修正)。信息提供的一方为母亲(提供相似度低的动物名称), 另一方为陌生人(提供相似度高的动物名称)。结果发现, 幼儿的选择性信任和信念修正受到母亲证言与已有信念冲突程度的影响。在低冲突情境下, 幼儿对母亲证言的询问意愿和外显信任均高于高冲突情境。幼儿的信念修正存在年龄差异, 在低冲突情境下, 年长幼儿比年幼幼儿更倾向于改变已有信念, 在高冲突情境下, 年长的幼儿比年幼幼儿更不愿意改变已有信念。本研究结果表明, 当母亲的证言与幼儿已有信念冲突时, 中国幼儿可以区分不同程度的冲突情境, 并且可以根据冲突的程度进行选择性信任和信念修正。     

Accuracy, completeness, and consistency of emotional memories

Judges and lawyers often consider inconsistent testimonies to be inaccurate. We addressed this assumption by asking undergraduate students on 2 occasions to write detailed accounts of violent movie fragments they had seen. These accounts were evaluated in terms of accuracy, completeness, and consistency. Experiment 1 showed that accounts tended to be accurate. Moreover, first accounts were marginally more complete than second accounts. The number of inconsistencies between the 2 accounts was not significantly related to their accuracy. Experiment 2 sought to replicate these findings using a more emotionally upsetting movie fragment. Results were highly similar to those of Experiment 1 in that accounts tended to be accurate but incomplete. Inconsistencies were not significantly related to the accuracy of participants' accounts. In line with previous research, we found that accounts of emotional events can be highly accurate but tend to be incomplete. More importantly, inconsistencies cannot be seen as valid predictors of testimonial inaccuracy.     

Promoting Honesty: The Influence of Stories on Children's Lie‐Telling Behaviours and Moral Understanding

Moral stories are a means of communicating the consequences of our actions and emphasizing virtuous behaviour, such as honesty. However, the effect of these stories on children's lie‐telling has yet to be thoroughly explored. The current study investigated the influence of moral stories on children's willingness to lie for another individual. Children were read one of three stories prior to being questioned about an accidental wrongdoing: (1) a positive story, which emphasized the benefits of being honest; (2) a negative story, which outlined the potential costs of lying; and (3) a neutral story, which was unrelated to truth‐telling or lie‐telling. Initially, most children withheld information about the event. Older children were better able to maintain their lies throughout the interview. However, when asked direct questions, children in the positive story condition were more likely to tell the truth than those in the negative and neutral conditions. No significant differences were found between the negative and neutral story conditions. The present study also investigated the relationship between children's conceptual understanding and behaviour. The findings revealed that children's knowledge of truths and lies increased with age. Children who lied had significantly higher conceptual scores than those who did not lie. Furthermore, the type of story children were read had a significant impact on their evaluations of true and false statements. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Taking a closer look: On the operation of nonconscious impression formation

In this article, we analyzed the information processing that underlies nonconscious impression formation. In the first experiment, the nonconscious activation of the impression formation goal led to a faster analysis of the trait implications of behaviors, compared with a control group. In Experiment 2, participants who were nonconsciously primed with an impression formation goal were more likely than those in a control condition to form associations in memory between behaviors and implied traits. In Experiment 3, nonconsciously primed participants were more sensitive than those in a control condition to whether inconsistent trait information was relevant or irrelevant to the actor’s disposition. Moreover, in Experiments 2 and 3, those with a nonconscious goal showed just as much evidence of impression formation as those who were consciously and intentionally trying to form an impression. Implications for nonconscious goal-pursuit and impression formation are discussed.