Eyewitnesses to crimes sometimes perform cognitively demanding tasks while simultaneously observing a perpetrator. This division of attentional resources can cause them to remember the perpetrator less accurately. Pickel et al. (in press) showed that judging a target individual’s veracity impairs subsequent memory for his or her appearance and message. They argued that this result occurred because judging veracity is an attention-demanding task that is difficult to perform while simultaneously encoding the target’s information. The previous study also demonstrated that suspicion exaggerated the memory impairment effect, apparently by inducing suspicious witnesses to scrutinize the target more closely than non-suspicious witnesses. The goal of the present study was to replicate the findings that judging veracity impairs witnesses’ memory for the target’s appearance and message using a different video (i.e., a different target, crime scenario, and message) and that induced suspicion exaggerates this effect. In addition, I hypothesized that judging veracity also impairs witnesses’ performance on a lineup task and inflates confidence and ratings on other testimony-relevant judgments by giving witnesses the false sense that they have attended closely to the suspect’s physical appearance and message. I hypothesize that suspicion will exaggerate this effect. Results were found to be consistent with Pickel et al.’s (in press) previous findings. Witnesses who judged veracity performed more poorly on the lineup task than those who were not informed they would need to judge veracity, and witnesses who were made suspicious performed worse than those who judged veracity. Differences were discovered across the groups in relation to certainty ratings and other testimony-relevant judgments about the eyewitness experience. / Department of Psychological Science

Previous research on the weapon focus effect indicates that schematic knowledge plays a large role in adult witnesses' ability to recall details of a crime. This study investigated whether the weapon focus effect would be found in young children (4- and 5- year-olds), whose schemas are less developed than those of adults. An experiment was conducted in which adults and children viewed a videotape depicting a male target stealing money from a woman's purse. In the four conditions, the target's apparent occupation and the objects that he held were manipulated, so that only one condition depicted a schema inconsistency between his occupation and the object. After watching the videotape, the participants were interviewed for details regarding the target's physical appearance and the object. As predicted, the schema inconsistency resulted in decreased recall accuracy for both children and adults. These results suggest that the weapon focus effect can be generalized to young children and that their eyewitness accounts are similar to those of adults. Additionally, adults recalled a significantly greater number of details than did the children, which was also predicted. It was interesting and unexpected to find that overall. adults recalled significantly more accurate descriptions than the children. This finding was contradictory to the results of some previous studies on eyewitness memory. / Department of Psychological Science

The effect of a weapon on memory accuracy for children and adults was examined. One-hundred eighty-six participants (87 7- and 8-year-old children and 99 college undergraduates) viewed one of four videotaped scenes in which a target individual committed a crime while carrying either a weapon that was consistent or inconsistent with his schema role or a neutral non-weapon that was consistent with his role. Participants were individually interviewed about the target's physical appearance. The results indicated that participants of both age groups were less accurate when the target individual carried a weapon that was inconsistent rather than consistent with his schema role. The results also indicated that adults were more accurate overall than children. These findings are consistent with previous findings on weapon focus effect and add to our knowledge of the development of memory. / Department of Psychological Science

published_or_final_version / Psychology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

During a crime event, witnesses may have to judge the veracity of a suspect. I hypothesized that, because performing this task is cognitively demanding, (a) it would impair subsequent memory for details about the suspect and (b) judging veracity while motivated to do so as accurately as possible would exaggerate this effect. These predictions were supported. Additionally, witnesses who judged veracity reported increased certainty about the accuracy of their description and message and their identification of the suspect compared to control witnesses, and they also said they had a better view of the suspect and paid more attention to him. Motivation further inflated some of these testimony-relevant judgments. Moreover, compared to control witnesses, motivated witnesses who judged veracity reported a greater willingness to testify and a clearer image of the suspect in their memory. / Department of Psychological Science

Research supports the notion that weapons impair eyewitnesses' memory for visual information (weapon focus effect). Pickel and Betts (1999) found that the presence of a weapon can also interfere with witnesses' memory for auditory information. The primary objective of the current study was to replicate Pickel and Betts's (1999) findings, to extend their findings by implementing different methodological procedures, and to control for a confound associated with their study. A secondary goal was to further investigate the impact that arousal and novelty have on the weapon focus effect. Participants watched a videotape depicting a story about a man stalking a woman. The man approached the woman holding either a switchblade knife or a black ballpoint pen. The man's conversation varied so that it was either easy or difficult to comprehend. Participants then completed questionnaires assessing their arousal level, memory for visual and auditory information, and perceived unusualness of the object carried by the target. [n addition, they attempted to identify the target in a photo and audio lineup. Results indicate that the presence of a weapon does not affect memory for vocal characteristics or for semantic content of speech when the content of the message is rather simple. As the complexity of the message increases, however, a weapon will interfere with witnesses' memory for the content. Also, results support the hypothesis that the weapon focus effect occurs because the weapon is perceived to be unusual and that increased levels of arousal are not necessary to obtain the effect. Analyses revealed no significant effects or interactions related to witnesses' ability to identify the man in the photo or audio lineup. The results supported Pickel and Betts's (1999) conclusions, thus increasing our knowledge concerning the reliability of eyewitness testimony. / Department of Psychological Science

The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) sought to promote healing and reconciliation, and thereby bring closure to a past era of oppression. The process of public testimony was assumed to provide for a revealing of the truth of the period, and to promote forgiveness thus enabling victims to heal from the traumas of the past. This qualitative study sought to explicate the subjective meaning of the experiences of victims who testified at the TRC. Data derived from transcripted open-ended interviews with twelve victims were analysed using an empirical-phenomenological method. The sample group of 12 volunteers comprised eight black females, two black males, one Indian male and one white female. The subjects were interviewed nine to eighteen months after they had testified as victims at the KwaZulu-Natal regional hearings of the TRC. The findings of this study challenge the one-dimensional assumption that testifying at the TRC would promote a therapeutic outcome for victims. Analysis of the data revealed that public testimony is a dialectic and interpersonally constituted phenomenon, which in certain circumstances may facilitate healing. Victims described symptoms of anticipatory anxiety, and typically experienced the opportunity to testify as an "approach-avoidance" phenomenon. The TRC was perceived with the potential either to bring closure to the past, or to re-open old wounds without meeting the raised expectations for justice to be served and reparations to be provided. Victims experienced secondary traumatisation as they testified and simultaneously bore witness to their painful life-stories. The circumstances for a therapeutic outcome emerged as those in which forgiveness could take place through hearing the confession of a perpetrator, or through dialogue with a significant other who could stand for the perpetrator. In either case, an acknowledgement of the truth was required as a co-constituted reality. The study concludes with a call for post-testimony psychological support for victims given the limited resources of the TRC to provide follow-up counselling services. / Thesis (DPhil (Psychotherapy))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Psychology / unrestricted

This study focused on the impact of the revelations at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) hearings on 30 female victims of all races. An explanatory model, the TRC Revelation Aftermath Model was designed to direct the research and to interpret the data. Researcher made use of a non-probability sampling strategy. Five respondents were selected by purposive sampling and 25 were selected by means of the snowball sampling. The sample of this study consisted of three components, namely ten Commissioners of the TRC, ten Coordinators who worked in the TRC offices, as well as 30 female victims of all races. The Commissioners were interviewed to validate the data obtained from the victims while the Coordinators were consulted merely to obtain general information on the criteria which was used to process the applications submitted by the victims in order to receive the reparations. The analysis of the data revealed that the respondents accepted three assumptions, namely, they were invulnerable with regard to trauma such as that caused by the revelations of the TRC. In addition to this they viewed life as meaningful and that they also had a positive attitude towards it before the political conflict of the apartheid era in South Africa impacted on them. These assumptions were interpreted in terms of Janoff-Bulman and Frieze's theory. The research findings indicated that the assumptions were not only affected by the revelations but that they also influenced the way in which these women experienced the TRC process. It was found that the victim respondents, whose family members had disappeared and were never confirmed dead, had suffered exacerbated emotions which were characterised by denial. This was the result of repressed memories associated with the grief. Of importance too, was the finding that a few of the victims were successful in deriving meaning from their suffering, while others, who could not achieve this, could not reconcile with their perpetrators and this was determined by their age. As the former were willing to forgive their perpetrators they had thus found inner peace. During the interviews, the victims mentioned that although the TRC had appeared to be necessary before they made their submissions, however, after it had disappointed them by not granting them reparations, this exacerbated their suffering as they felt that they had been discriminated against in favour of the perpetrators who were granted amnesty irrespective of not having made full disclosures. According to Parsons General Action System all the respondents experienced their trauma as biological entities, and thus suffered symptoms related to psychosomatic illnesses such as, inter alia, headaches, insomnia, and ulcers. These were accompanied by personality characteristics such as anger, aggression, as well as hatred. As the victims could not function in isolation, they also endured ostracisation related to cultural stereotypes and in this way, their suffering was perceived as secondary to that of males. Furthermore, within the social system, the victims who perceived the TRC as biased, believed that it had caused the country embarrassment by bringing up the conflict of the apartheid era. However, others verbalised that the Commission was a good initiative for South Africa so that peace as well as reconciliation could be facilitated for the sake of unity. It is crucial to stress the finding that some of the respondents, although few, who had been granted reparations, were satisfied with the TRC and perceived it as fair and thus could reconcile with their perpetrators. The research report concludes with a number of recommendations for the establishment of support services for the traumatised victims as well as integrative mechanisms, which could encourage co-operation between the citizens of South Africa so that the reconciliation which the TRC facilitated can be sustained. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, amnesty, violence, human rights, reconciliation, apartheid, trauma, grief, bereavement. / Thesis (DPhil (Criminology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

When judging interpersonal aggression, witnesses are usually expected to rationally consider, based on the evidence they have, what another reasonable person could (or should) have thought, known and done. However their analysis may be affected by judgment biases and personal motivations. These evaluative and retrospective biases, as well as the ascription of blame, are the main interests of this research. More specifically, we investigated the consequences of witnesses being prone to the hindsight bias, which is a common bias that gives individuals the feeling that they would have been able to predict past events, what in fact, is not the case. This process may have important effects on the victim, who “should have known” that an aggression would happen to him/her. In this dissertation, we examine the moderators of this bias and the role of the communication context in which it develops. We hypothesized that the communication context might affect the perspective that is taken on the event of interpersonal aggression and the perceived distance towards it. Also, we expected that the hindsight bias and victim blame would be decreased when reducing the psychological distance towards the event (i.e. perceived temporal distance and perceived proximity with the victim’s fate). In a same vein, we expected that the aggressor would be more derogated in this condition. The first four studies were designed to investigate the role of communication goals about the aggression. Asking participants to describe how (vs. why) the aggression happened was expected to diminish the perceived distance. The following study (study 5) examined whether reporting the event in the passive voice (vs. active voice) would have a similar effect. The four last studies investigated how the time of presenting the event (before vs. after its antecedents) would influence the perception of distance towards the events and the judgments. We expected that knowing the outcome initially might reduce the perceived distance with the events. Results of the first five studies confirmed the main hypotheses: the communication context that focused on the “how” of the event or that presented it in the passive voice reduced the perceived distance and diminished the predictability of the aggression and victim derogation. It also increases the derogation of the aggressor. In addition, the latter studies revealed that learning about the outcome right away leads to reduced derogation of the perpetrator and increased derogation of the victim, even when reducing the perceived distance with the event. Overall, this research suggests that the communication context in which the hindsight bias emerges, as well as the perceived distance with the negative event, are important factors when examining the retrospective reasoning and judgments of witnesses.<p><p><p><p><p>Lorsque les témoins jugent une agression interpersonnelle, il est généralement attendu d’eux qu’ils considèrent rationnellement ce qu’une personne raisonnable aurait pu penser, savoir et faire dans pareille situation, et ce en se fondant uniquement sur les preuves qui leur sont fournies. Il n’en reste pas moins que leur analyse sera toutefois tronquée par des biais de jugement et des motivations personnelles. C’est pourquoi la détermination du blâme et l’influence des déformations rétrospectives et évaluatives sont au cœur de cette recherche. Ainsi, nous investiguons plus particulièrement le biais de rétrospection, à savoir l’erreur commune qui laisse à l’individu penser qu’il est en mesure de prévoir n’importe quel événement, alors qu’en réalité, il n’en est rien. Une telle erreur peut cependant avoir de graves conséquences pour la victime dès lors que les témoins sont amenés à croire qu’elle aurait « dû » prévoir ce qui allait survenir. Dans cette thèse, nous envisageons également les modérateurs de ce biais, dont le rôle du contexte communicationnel. Nous avons, dès lors, fait l’hypothèse que le contexte communicationnel pourrait affecter l’angle sous lequel les témoins considèrent l’événement et la distance perçue par rapport à celui-ci. Ce faisant, nous pensions que le biais de rétrospection et le blâme de la victime seraient réduits lorsque le contexte diminuait la distance perçue vis-à-vis de l’événement (en l’occurrence, la distance temporelle et la proximité perçue avec le sort de la victime). De même, il était attendu que l’agresseur soit davantage blâmé dans pareille condition. Les quatre premières études s’intéressaient donc au rôle des buts poursuivis lors de la communication à propos de l’agression, afin d’envisager en quoi décrire comment (vs. pourquoi) l’agression s’était produite aidait à réduire la distance perçue. Une cinquième étude nous a ensuite permis de considérer si la voix passive (versus active) avait aussi un effet similaire. Quant aux quatre dernières études, elles avaient pour objectif d’investiguer dans quelle mesure l’ordre de présentation des informations (connaître la fin avant, vs. après les antécédents) pouvait avoir également une incidence sur la prise de distance par rapport à l’événement et aux jugements. Plus précisément, nous faisions l’hypothèse que connaître l’événement en premier lieu (avant ses antécédents) facilitait la réduction de la distance perçue. Les résultats obtenus dans les cinq premières recherches semblaient confirmer nos hypothèses :Un contexte communicationnel qui réduisait la distance psychologique perçue par rapport à l’événement pouvait non seulement diminuer le biais de rétrospection et le blâme de la victime, mais augmenter aussi le blâme de l’agresseur. Toutefois, les dernières recherches ont semblé démontrer, a contrario, que connaître l’agression en premier lieu pouvait réduire le blâme de l’agresseur et augmenter celui de la victime, alors même que la distance perçue avec les événements était réduite. In fine, ce travail suggère donc que le contexte communicationnel, dans lequel le biais émerge, et la prise de distance face à l’événement négatif sont autant de pistes qu’il faudrait creuser à l’avenir pour mieux comprendre le raisonnement et les jugements rétrospectifs des témoins. / Doctorat en Sciences Psychologiques et de l'éducation / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished