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

错误的目击者识别是造成美国大多数错误定罪的原因（威尔斯等人，1998; Warden等人，2001年）。 在一项对86起已知的错误定罪案件的分析中，46起涉及目击证人证词的案件中有14起有多名目击证人作证（Warden等人，2001年）。 为什么多个目击者会指认同一个错误的人？过去的研究表明，记忆不仅受认知变量的影响，而且还受社会变量的影响，特别是在记忆不确定或编码不佳的情况下（Wather等人，2002年）。 研究人员已经表明，两个目击者讨论犯罪会影响对方对事件的记忆（例如，Gabbert等人，2003年）。然而，很少有研究探讨了共同证人的信息对目击者的身份选择的影响。在一项试点研究中，我们证明了学习了共同证人（即，从阵容中选择或拒绝）受到共同证人在从阵容中选择时的决定的影响。 使用社会和认知心理学理论来告知我们的研究，这个项目包括两个研究，旨在探讨何时以及为什么社会信息影响目击者的阵容选择。 在这两项研究中，目击者将与同谋者一起观看犯罪。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）与共同目击者的记忆相比，是否会影响目击者是否可能遵守共同目击者的决定。 在第二项研究中，我们将探讨共同证人的信心（和目击者的共同证人的信心的信念）的作用，在目击者是否会受到共同证人的阵容决策信息。通过这些研究，我们将能够确定共同证人的信息何时以及为何会影响目击者的指认决定。

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.