Social Psychological Factors in Eyewitness Identification: Social Influence in Choosing Behavior

目击者识别中的社会心理因素：选择行为的社会影响

• 批准号: 0922370
• 负责人: Lora Levett
• 金额: $ 12.89万
• 依托单位: University of Florida
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-15 至 2013-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0922370&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Social; Psychological; Factors; Eyewitness; Identification

Mistaken eyewitness identification is responsible for the majority of wrongful convictions in the United States (Wells et al., 1998; Warden et al., 2001). In one analysis of 86 cases of known wrongful conviction, multiple eyewitnesses testified in 14 of the 46 cases involving eyewitness testimony (Warden et al., 2001). Why would multiple eyewitnesses identify the same wrong person? Past research has demonstrated that memory is not only affected by cognitive variables, but social variables as well, especially in those situations in which the memory is not certain or poorly encoded (Wather et al., 2002). Researchers have shown that two eyewitnesses who discuss the crime can affect each other's memories for the event (e.g., Gabbert et al., 2003). However, very few studies have examined the effect of co-witness information on an eyewitness's identification choices. In a pilot study, we demonstrated that participants who learned the lineup decision of a co-witness (i.e., to choose from or reject the lineup) were influenced by the co-witness's decision when choosing from the lineup. Using social and cognitive psychological theory to inform our research, this project consists of two studies designed to explore when and why social information influences an eyewitness's lineup choice. In both studies, an eyewitness will view a crime with a confederate acting as a co-witness. In the first study, we will explore whether the strength (or perceived strength) of an eyewitness's memory compared to the memory of the co-witness affects whether an eyewitness is likely to conform to the decision of the co-witness. In the second study, we will explore the role of the co-witness's confidence (and the eyewitness's beliefs about the co-witness's confidence) in whether an eyewitness will be influenced by co-witness lineup decision information. Through these studies, we will be able to ascertain when and why co-witness information will affect an eyewitness's identification decision.

在美国，错误的目击证人识别是造成大多数错误定罪的原因（Wells 等人，1998 年；Warden 等人，2001 年）。 在对 86 起已知错误定罪案件的一项分析中，在 46 起涉及目击者证词的案件中，有 14 起有多名目击者作证（Warden 等，2001）。 为什么多名目击者会认错同一个人？过去的研究表明，记忆不仅受到认知变量的影响，还受到社会变量的影响，特别是在记忆不确定或编码不良的情况下（Wather et al., 2002）。 研究人员表明，讨论犯罪事件的两名目击者可以影响彼此对该事件的记忆（例如，Gabbert 等，2003）。然而，很少有研究探讨共同证人信息对目击者身份选择的影响。在一项试点研究中，我们证明，了解共同证人的阵容决定（即选择或拒绝阵容）的参与者在从阵容中进行选择时会受到共同证人决定的影响。 该项目使用社会和认知心理学理论来指导我们的研究，包括两项研究，旨在探讨社会信息何时以及为何影响目击者的阵容选择。 在这两项研究中，目击者将在同伙作为共同证人的情况下目睹犯罪行为。在第一项研究中，我们将探讨目击者的记忆强度（或感知强度）与共同证人的记忆相比是否会影响目击者是否可能遵守共同证人的决定。 在第二项研究中，我们将探讨共同证人的信心（以及目击者对共同证人信心的信念）对于目击者是否会受到共同证人阵容决策信息的影响的作用。通过这些研究，我们将能够确定共同证人信息何时以及为何会影响目击者的身份识别决定。