Moderators of Lineup Administrator Expectancy Effects on Eyewitness Identification Accuracy

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(Public Law 111-5)资助的。行为研究中人际期望效应的证据导致心理学家提出，名单管理员对嫌疑人身份的了解可能在错误识别中起到作用，并建议采用双盲名单管理。然而，目击者辨认任务包含的特征可能会限制人际期望的影响。当嫌疑人与犯罪人非常相似时，预期效果可能会被抑制，因为证人将在没有管理员提示的情况下选择嫌疑人；只有当嫌疑人与犯罪者不太相似时，管理人的影响才可能发挥作用。同样，证人记忆力的强弱可能会限制管理员选择嫌疑人的影响力。当目击者的选择标准较低时，例如当某些系统变量(有偏见的指示、同时出现的阵容陈述)存在时，这些影响可能更有可能发生。这项研究操纵了嫌疑人与犯罪者的相似性、记忆强度(不同的保持间隔和暴露时间)，以及证人从三个模拟目击者身份识别的研究中做出选择的标准(即，参与者目睹了一个事件，然后尝试从照片阵列中进行身份识别)。使用数学建模技术，首席调查员检查来自这些研究的数据与目击者识别决策的证人模型所做出的预测的适合性。这些研究的智力价值集中在测试管理员期望对目击者准确性的理论约束上。这些研究可能被证明是变革性的，因为它们可能导致目击者记忆的主导理论--证人模型--的显著改进。此外，这些发现有可能产生广泛影响，因为它们可能会让警方了解什么时候最重要的是花费资源进行看似更昂贵的程序。警方中的许多人一直在抵制实施双盲阵容的建议。他们还将提供信息，协助调查人员、专家证人、法官和陪审团了解目击证人的可靠性。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009(Public Law 111-5)Evidence of interpersonal expectancy effects in behavioral research led psychologists to suggest that lineup administrators' knowledge of a suspect's identity may play a role in mistaken identifications and to recommend double-blind lineup administration. However, the eyewitness identification task contains features that may constrain the influence of interpersonal expectancies. When the suspect closely resembles the perpetrator, expectancy effects may be suppressed because witnesses will choose the suspect without benefit of administrator cues; administrator influence may operate only when the suspect is less similar to the perpetrator. Similarly, the strength of the witness's memory may limit an administrator's influence to choose the suspect. These effects may be more likely when witnesses' criteria for choosing are low such as when certain system variables (biased instructions, simultaneous lineup presentation) are present. This research manipulates the similarity of the suspect to the perpetrator, memory strength (varying retention interval and exposure time), and the witness's criterion for making a choice from the lineup in three studies that simulate an eyewitness identification (i.e., a participant witnesses an event and the subsequently attempts an identification from a photo array). Using mathematical modeling techniques, the principal investigator examines the fit of the data from these studies to predictions made by the WITNESS model of eyewitness identification decision-making. The intellectual merit of these studies focuses on testing theorized constraints of administrator expectancy effects on eyewitness accuracy. The studies could prove transformative in that they could lead to a significant refinement of the leading theory of eyewitness memory, the WITNESS model. Moreover the findings have the potential for broad impact because they could inform police, many of whom have been resisting the recommendation to administer double-blind lineups, about when it is most important to expend resources to conduct seemingly more costly procedures. They will also provide information to assist investigators, expert witnesses, judges, and juries on eyewitness reliability.