Eyewitnesses' Retrospective Reports on External Influences

目击者对外部影响的回顾报告

• 批准号: 0647243
• 负责人: Gary Wells
• 金额: $ 25万
• 依托单位: Iowa State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-07-01 至 2011-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0647243&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Eyewitnesses; Retrospective; Reports; External; Influences

Abstract"Eyewitnesses' Retrospective Reports on External Influences" Gary L. Wells, PIThe legal system relies heavily on eyewitnesses to help convict perpetrators and to free innocents from suspicion. A primary method for doing this is to use a photographic lineup in which a suspect's photo is placed among filler photos and the eyewitness is asked to identify which of the photos, if any, is of the perpetrator. Scientific experiments as well as studies of actual cases of convictions of innocent people, however, reveal that eyewitnesses are prone to error under certain conditions. In particular, eyewitnesses are easily influenced by external factors, such as suggestive pre-lineup instructions, unintentional cues from the lineup administrator as to which person to select, and comments that bolster the confidence of the eyewitness after the selection. Courts have long assumed that any such influences are readily discoverable by merely questioning the eyewitness as to whether these suggestive influence events occurred and, if so, whether they were influenced by the suggestive event. The experiments that will be conducted are designed to test whether eyewitnesses can recall such suggestive events and whether they can accurately report on whether the suggestive events influenced their responses. Participants will view simulated crimes and then be subjected to various suggestive events that lead them to make mistaken identifications from photo lineups. The actual impact of the suggestive events will be measured by comparing their identification decisions (and their confidence) to participants who were not subjected to the suggestive events. Either immediately or seven days later the participant-witnesses will be asked to recall any suggestive events. They will then be told about the suggestive event and asked what their identification decision and confidence would have been had the suggestive event not occurred. It is expected that participant-witnesses will have difficulty recalling the suggestive event, especially after seven days. In addition, it is expected that participant-witnesses will greatly underestimate the impact that the suggestive event had on their identification decisions and confidence. The results are expected to have strong implications for the legal system's reliance on eyewitnesses to report suggestive influences and provide a new incentive for the legal system to take measures to eliminate the suggestive events from occurring in the first place. In addition, these experiments will shed new light on our understanding of the limits to people's abilities to self-report on the factors that affect their judgments and decisions.

《目击者对外部影响的回顾性报告》加里L。威尔斯，PI法律的系统在很大程度上依赖目击者来帮助定罪的肇事者和释放无辜的怀疑。这样做的一个主要方法是使用照片阵容，其中嫌疑人的照片被放置在填充照片中，并要求目击者识别哪些照片，如果有的话，是犯罪者。然而，科学实验以及对无辜者被定罪的实际案例的研究表明，目击者在某些情况下容易出错。特别是，目击者很容易受到外部因素的影响，例如暗示性的预先列队指示，来自列队管理员的关于选择哪个人的无意提示，以及在选择后增强目击者信心的评论。法院长期以来一直认为，只要询问目击者这些暗示性的影响事件是否发生过，如果发生过，他们是否受到暗示性事件的影响，就可以很容易地证明任何这种影响。将进行的实验旨在测试目击者是否能回忆起这些暗示性事件，以及他们是否能准确地报告暗示性事件是否影响了他们的反应。参与者将观看模拟犯罪，然后经历各种暗示性事件，导致他们从照片阵容中做出错误的识别。将通过比较受试者的识别决策（及其置信度）与未经历暗示性事件的受试者的识别决策（及其置信度）来衡量暗示性事件的实际影响。参与者-目击者将被要求立即或七天后回忆任何暗示性事件。然后，他们将被告知暗示性事件，并询问如果没有发生暗示性事件，他们的识别决定和信心会如何。预计参与者-目击者将难以回忆起暗示性事件，特别是在七天之后。此外，预计参与证人将大大低估的影响，暗示性事件对他们的身份的决定和信心。研究结果有望对法律的系统依赖目击者报告暗示性影响产生强烈影响，并为法律的系统采取措施消除暗示性事件的发生提供新的激励。此外，这些实验将为我们理解人们自我报告影响其判断和决定的因素的能力的局限性提供新的思路。