Target Person Distinctiveness and Attractiveness as Moderator Variables in the Confidence-Accuracy Relationship in Eyewitness Identifications

Previous research on the relationship between an eyewitnesses' degree of confidence in an attempted identification and the probable accuracy of that identification has generally analyzed the relationship across subjects who attempted to identify a single target person. In contrast, this study analyzed identifications across 33 live targets to ascertain whether the magnitude of the confidence-accuracy (CA) relationship associated with each target face would be related to two target characteristics: distinctiveness and attractiveness of appearance. The distinctiveness of a target face was found to be significantly related, r(31) = .38, to the magnitude of the CA correlation associated with that face: less distinctive-looking targets yielded lower CA correlations (mean CA r = .25) than did targets average or above-average in distinctiveness, mean r = .42. Target attractiveness was also related to the magnitude of the CA relationship, r = -.30, but to a lesser degree. Additional factors likely affect the CA relationship in nonlaboratory eyewitness situations are discussed.