Cognitive Psychology Commons^™

Improving Witnesses' Predictive Confidence Judgments By Enhancing Test Domain Familiarity, Laura J. Shambaugh

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent research on witnesses’ pre-identification confidence (“predictive confidence”) suggests that these judgments are moderately related to identification accuracy when witnesses experience encoding variability and appropriate statistical techniques are used. However, other research shows that under ecologically valid conditions involving a single identification, the relationship between predictive confidence and accuracy deteriorates. One potential explanation for this lack of a meaningful confidence-accuracy relationship is that witnesses are unfamiliar with the lineup task leading them to underestimate its difficulty. Identification difficulty is partly determined by the similarity of lineup fillers to the suspect, which witnesses cannot anticipate when they make a predictive confidence …

The Effects Of Post-Recall Feedback: Examining Witness Recall Quantity, Accuracy, And Confidence, Dana Elizabeth Hirn Mueller

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Most eyewitness identification protocols recommend withholding feedback after an identification has been made, at least until a measure of confidence can be gathered. Although much research has examined the impact of post-identification feedback on subsequent witness behavior and confidence, research addressing the importance of post-recall feedback remains largely incomplete. The current study examined the effects of post-recall feedback and question type on subsequent witness recall, confidence, and reports of view of the crime. In line with previous eyewitness identification research, it was predicted that participants receiving confirming post-recall feedback would be more confident in their prior recall compared to participants …

Exoneration Or Observation? Examining A Novel Difference Between Liars And Truth Tellers, Peter F. Molinaro

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Individual cues to deception are subtle and often missed by lay people and law enforcement alike. Linguistic statement analysis remains a potentially useful way of overcoming individual diagnostic limitations (e.g. Criteria based Content Analysis; Steller & Köhnken, 1989; Reality monitoring; Johnson & Raye, 1981; Scientific Content Analysis; Sapir, 1996). Unfortunately many of these procedures are time-consuming, require in-depth training, as well as lack empirical support and/or external validity. The current dissertation develops a novel approach to statement veracity analysis that is simple to learn, easy to administer, theoretically sound, and empirically validated.

Two strategies were proposed for detecting differences between …