Do prophylactics prevent inflation? Post-identification feedback and the effectiveness of procedures to protect against confidence-inflation in earwitnesses.
After viewing or hearing a recorded simulated crime, participants were asked to identify the offender's voice from a target-absent audio lineup. After making their voice identification, some participants were either given confirming feedback or no feedback. The feedback manipulation in experiment 1 led to higher ratings of participants' identification certainty, as well as higher ratings on retrospective confidence reports, in both the immediate and delay groups. Earwitnesses who were asked about their identification certainty prior to the feedback manipulation (experiment 2) did not demonstrate the typical confidence-inflation associated with confirming feedback if they were questioned about the witnessing experience immediately; however, the effects returned after a week-long retention interval. The implications for the differential forgetting and internal-cues hypotheses are discussed.
Department of Psychology, Psychology Department, Iowa State University, West 112 Lagomarcino, Ames, IA, 50011, USA. dslawson@iastate.edu
Deah S
DS
Quinlivan
Jeffrey S
JS
Neuschatz
Angelina
A
Jimenez
Andrew D
AD
Cling
Amy Bradfield
AB
Douglass
Charles A
CA
Goodsell
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000407:Alabama; D019548:Crime Victims; D005246:Feedback; D005260:Female; D006309:Hearing; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020377:Self Efficacy; D014831:Voice; D055815:Young Adult