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Co-Witnesses and the Effects of Discussion on Eyewitness Memory

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Co-Witnesses and the Effects of Discussion on Eyewitness Memory CO-WITNESSES AND THE EFFECTS OF DISCUSSION ON EYEWITNESS MEMORY Helen M. Paterson A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Psychology University of New South Wales December 15, 2004 i Abstract The research presented in this thesis was designed to investigate the effects of co-witness information on the accuracy and completeness of eyewitness memory. Co-witness information is defined as information that one eyewitness conveys to another about an event that they both observed. Very little research has focused on co-witness discussion, so the first two studies surveyed real eyewitnesses and police officers to determine how often witnesses discuss the event with one another. The results from these surveys suggested that co-witnesses commonly talk about the event with each other and this outcome provided a clear justification for studying the effects of co-witness discussion on memory. Previous research on co-witness discussion has reached inconsistent conclusions, and the possibility exists that these discrepancies are due to methodological differences. Therefore, this research aimed to determine whether co-witness discussion helps or hinders individual recall, and to investigate this within a closely defined methodological set. In a series of five experiments, participants were shown a crime video and then asked to discuss the video in groups (some of which received experimentally induced misinformation from a co- witness). Following the discussion, participants were asked to give their individual accounts of what happened. These experiments showed that exposure to postevent information from a co-witness can cause people to incorporate this information into their individual testimonies, regardless of the accuracy of the information. This phenomenon has become known as ‘memory conformity.’ Relevant theories were tested in order to contribute to knowledge regarding the causes of memory conformity. Furthermore, the experiments also aimed to establish whether it is possible to mediate any negative effects of co-witness discussion by employing our theoretical understanding of the causes of memory conformity. Five approaches were utilized in an attempt to reduce the negative effects of co-witness discussion: warnings about possible misinformation, source monitoring, free recall, confidence ratings, and ‘remember/know judgments’ (Tulving, 1985). Some evidence was found to suggest that when using ‘remember/know judgments’ it may be possible to distinguish ‘real’ memories from information obtained from a co-witness. These results are discussed in terms of theoretical and practical implications. Discussion and eyewitness memory ii Table of Contents ABSTRACT I TABLE OF CONTENTS II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS IV OVERVIEW OF THESIS V SECTION 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1 CHAPTER 1 2 LITERATURE REVIEW OF RELEVANT RESEARCH 2 DIRECT TRANSFER OF CO-WITNESS INFORMATION 5 INDIRECT TRANSFER OF CO-WITNESS INFORMATION 23 SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 1 26 CHAPTER 2 28 THEORETICAL EXPLANATIONS OF MEMORY CONFORMITY 28 WHY DOES MEMORY CONFORMITY OCCUR? 28 EVALUATING THE THEORIES OF MEMORY CONFORMITY 42 FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE CONFORMITY 50 SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 2 55 SECTION 2: SURVEY STUDIES 56 CHAPTER 3 57 STUDY 1: WITNESSES TALK 57 METHOD 59 RESULTS 61 DISCUSSION 68 CHAPTER 4 72 STUDY 2: THE LEGAL PERSPECTIVE 72 METHOD 74 RESULTS 77 DISCUSSION 89 SECTION 3: EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES 95 CHAPTER 5 97 STUDY 3: CO-WITNESS CONTAMINATION 97 METHOD 101 RESULTS 105 DISCUSSION 115 CHAPTER 6 121 Discussion and eyewitness memory iii STUDY 4: WAYS OF ENCOUNTERING POSTEVENT INFORMATION 121 METHOD 127 RESULTS 132 DISCUSSION 150 CHAPTER 7 159 STUDY 5: UNINTENTIONAL HEARSAY 159 METHOD 166 RESULTS 174 DISCUSSION 190 CHAPTER 8 197 STUDY 6: SOURCE MONITORING 197 METHOD 199 RESULTS 201 DISCUSSION 213 CHAPTER 9 218 STUDY 7: EYEWITNESS INTERVIEW 218 METHOD 222 RESULTS 228 DISCUSSION 234 SECTION 4: GENERAL DISCUSSION 239 CHAPTER 10 240 GENERAL DISCUSSION 240 OVERVIEW AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT FINDINGS 240 IMPLICATIONS OF THE RESEARCH 252 LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS 257 CONCLUSION 261 REFERENCES 263 APPENDICES 279 Discussion and eyewitness memory iv Acknowledgements To my supervisor, Richard Kemp, for being such a wonderful mentor and friend. I couldn’t have asked for a better supervisor. You gave me support and positive feedback when you knew I needed it and constructive criticism when it was deserved. In addition to learning a great deal from you, I have enjoyed our ‘important’ lab meetings in donut factories, caves and aboard sailboats! I would like to thank Peter Lovibond and the psychology department at UNSW for providing a positive and enriching environment in which to work. I am thankful to Jane Goodman-Delahunty and Kevin McConkey for their reviews of my thesis proposal and mid-candidature report. I appreciate the time and effort they put into my reviews and I am grateful for their suggestions. I would like to give a special thanks to Kevin McConkey for giving me advice on my funding. I am also grateful to my initial supervisor, Joseph Forgas, for helping me devise ideas for my thesis and design Study 3. I would also like to thank the volunteers who helped with my research. In particular, I would like to thank the police officers who completed my survey, the students who volunteered for my studies, the ‘actors’ who starred in my ‘uber-crap’ crime videos, and Denis Beaubois for producing the videos. Furthermore, I would like to acknowledge the labbies who helped run my experiments, code data, and assist with data entry. I would like to give a special thanks to Joanne Bower and Alice Walsh for proofreading my thesis. To my parents. Thank you for being so supportive of my decision to travel and study abroad in Australia. To Rachel, Linda, and Deborah who were (apart from being great friends) people with whom I could talk about my thesis and enjoy post-grad coffees. And finally, to my good friends…without you, I would have finished my PhD earlier, but I wouldn’t have had so much fun. Thanks for the constant distractions! ☺ Discussion and eyewitness memory v Overview of Thesis The present research was designed to investigate the effects of co-witness information on the accuracy and completeness of eyewitness memory. Co-witness information is defined as "information that one eyewitness might pass to another eyewitness regarding an event that they both observed," (Luus & Wells, 1994, p. 714). Whereas the legal system assumes that the testimony given by eyewitnesses should be independent of one another (Levine & Tapp, 1973), this is frequently not the case. “Discussion among victims or witnesses to a crime is difficult, if not impossible to prevent” (Yarmey, 1992, p. 252). Crimes are often ‘remarkable’ in the sense of the event's uniqueness and also in the sense that witnesses repeatedly ‘remark’ on the event to others (Yuille & Daylen, 1998). Because eyewitness information is often conveyed from one witness to another through discussion, it is important to ascertain the effects of co-witness information on the validity of eyewitness testimony. To address this aim, seven studies were conducted as part of a four-phase approach, with each phase designed to inform the next. This thesis was divided into four sections, each describing one phase of the research program. Section 1: Literature Review Section 1 involved a thorough review of the scientific literature regarding the effects of co-witness information on memory. The literature review was divided into two main sections, which focused on: (1) experimental methodologies employed to investigate the effects of discussion on memory and (2) theoretical explanations of the findings. This literature review informed the design of studies conducted in the subsequent phases of this research program. Section 2: Surveys The aim of Section 2 was to determine how common co-witness discussion is and to investigate the opinions held by legal authorities regarding discussion between witnesses. To examine these issues, two survey studies were conducted: one of real eyewitnesses and Discussion and eyewitness memory vi the other of police officers. The outcome of Section 2 provided a clear justification for the subsequent experimental study of co-witness discussion. Section 3: Experimental Studies The aim of Section 3 was to determine whether co-witness discussion helps or hinders individual recall and to investigate this within a closely defined methodological set. Previous research on eyewitness discussion has reached inconsistent conclusions, and the possibility exists that these discrepancies are due to methodological differences. In Section 3, experiments are described which examined these different methodologies and investigated the impact of co-witness discussion on eyewitness memory. A final aim of Section 3 was to investigate the effects of co-witness discussion within a theoretical framework. Relevant theories were tested in order to contribute to knowledge regarding the causes of memory conformity. Furthermore, these experiments aimed to establish whether it is possible to mediate any negative effects of co-witness discussion by employing our theoretical understanding and empirical outcomes. Section 4: General Discussion The aim of Section 4 was to summarise significant findings from the research presented in this thesis and describe how the findings contribute to our understanding of the effects of co-witness discussion on memory. Practical and methodological implications of the
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