In recent years hypnosis and a technique called guided memory have both been reported to enhance eyewitness memory. The effects of these two treatments, administered separately and in combination, on eyewitness recall, recognition, and suggestibility were examined. Two control groups, one that received motivational instructions and one that did not, were used. One hundred undergraduates were placed in an emotionally arousing situation where they were led to believe that they would be videotaped giving an impromptu speech and then be publicly evaluated on that speech. Next, they were exposed to a six-minute videotape of the "last session" in which a student confederate gave a speech and was harshly criticized by another confederate posing as a professor. After a two-day delay, subjects' memory of the videotape was tested with questionnaires and photo lineups that contained both leading and nonleading items. In contrast to previous research findings, hypnosis did not produce less accuracy on suggestive questions or lineups. Subjects in the hypnosis conditions did not significantly differ from controls on either leading or nonleading questions or in confidence about the accuracy of their answers. On the photo lineups, hypnotized subjects were found to correctly identify the critic confederate at significantly higher rates and the speaker confederate at near significantly higher rates than controls. Hypnosis subjects were also found to fall for the suggestion in one of the leading lineups significantly more often than controls, but their overall rate of correctly rejecting this target-absent lineup was not significantly different than controls. Hypnosis did not affect confidence in lineup choices. Guided memory did not aid recall, but did interact with hypnosis to improve recognition on one lineup. Motivational instructions were not found to influence subject / behavior. Greater hypnotic susceptibility generally aided recall accuracy across conditions. A curvilinear relationship between self-reported anxiety at the time of recall and performance was found for both recall and recognition measures across conditions. This study failed to find significant support for either Orne's (1979) or Wagstaff's (1982a) criticisms of using hypnosis with eyewitnesses. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-10, Section: B, page: 4343. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1986.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_75952 |
| Contributors | READY, DAVID JUAN., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 173 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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