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Effects of postidentification feedback on eyewitness identification and nonidentification confidence
Carolyn Semmler1, Neil Brewer, Gary L Wells
1School of Psychology, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
The Journal of Applied Psychology
|April 7, 2004
Summary
Confirming feedback inflated eyewitness confidence, regardless of identification accuracy. This effect, termed overconfidence, occurred with both target-absent and target-present lineups, impacting witness memory.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Forensic Psychology
- Legal Psychology
Background:
- Eyewitness confidence is crucial in legal proceedings.
- Confirming feedback can influence perceptions of accuracy.
- Previous research has not fully explored unbiased instructions with feedback.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of confirming feedback on eyewitness confidence.
- To examine this effect using both target-absent and target-present lineups.
- To assess the influence of unbiased witness instructions on feedback effects.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments were conducted with participants viewing a crime video.
- Participants completed target-absent (Exp 1) and target-present (Exp 2) lineups.
- Unbiased witness instructions were utilized, highlighting the 'offender not present' option.
Main Results:
- Confirming feedback inflated confidence for both correct and mistaken identifications.
- Feedback also increased confidence for correct and mistaken rejections.
- The confidence-accuracy correlation remained unaffected, but overconfidence was evident.
Conclusions:
- Confirming feedback significantly inflates eyewitness confidence.
- This inflation occurs irrespective of identification accuracy.
- Confidence inflation is influenced by the confidence measure and response time.
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