Individual Differences in Eyewitness Memory and Confidence Judgments

The relationships between witness characteristics, event memory, and confidence judgments were investigated. A day after seeing two confederates (Cs) make an announcement, 170 Ss were given an unexpected memory test. They also completed the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) and Rotter Scale. Neither of these test scores was related to memory accuracy, but female Ss were found to be more accurate than male Ss in their memory for the female C (but not for the male or for objects and actions). One significant correlation was obtained between the personality measures and confidence. Field-independents were better able to judge their own accuracy on an item by item basis, but this was true only for male Ss. In general, little support was found for the notion of predicting eyewitness performance on the basis of personality variables.