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Postdictors of eyewitness errors: can false identifications be diagnosed?
S M Smith1, R C Lindsay, S Pryke
1Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. ssmith1@stmarys.ca
The Journal of Applied Psychology
|August 19, 2000
Summary
Eyewitness researchers can predict identification accuracy using decision time and lineup fairness. These factors help determine if an eyewitness
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Forensic Science
Background:
- Eyewitness identification accuracy is crucial in legal proceedings.
- Previous research explored postdicting accuracy using witness confidence, response latency, and judgment strategies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effectiveness of decision time and lineup fairness as postdictors of eyewitness identification accuracy.
- To analyze the classification accuracy of eyewitnesses based on these factors.
Main Methods:
- Collected data from 321 introductory psychology students who viewed a staged crime and performed a lineup identification.
- Measured witness confidence, response latency, judgment strategies, and lineup fairness.
- Utilized discriminant function analysis to classify choosers and nonchoosers.
Main Results:
- Discriminant function analysis correctly classified 75.2% of choosers and 63.0% of nonchoosers.
- Decision time and lineup fairness emerged as the most effective postdictors of eyewitness accuracy.
- Feedback after identification was also a factor considered in the analysis.
Conclusions:
- Decision time and lineup fairness are valuable indicators for assessing eyewitness accuracy.
- These findings have significant implications for evaluating real-world eyewitness identification procedures.
- Further research can refine these postdictive measures for legal applications.