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The impact of motivation to judge veracity on eyewitnesses' memory of a suspect

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

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:123456789/197416
Date20 July 2013
CreatorsBauer, Heather Marie
ContributorsPickel, Kerri L.
Source SetsBall State University
Detected LanguageEnglish

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