The Social Influence on the Suggestibility of Witnesses

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The social influence on the suggestibility of witnesses Elin M. Skagerberg & Daniel B. Wright (2008): The prevalence of co-witnesses and co-witness discussions in real eyewitnesses, Psychology, Crime & Law, 14:6, 513-521 Background The majority of research exploring the effects of post event information (P.E.I) relates to the investigative process and the role of leading questions, as it has been found to result in the reconstruction of memory (Loftus & Palmer 1974). In recent years however more acknowledgment has been given to other types of P.E.I such as conversation between co-witnesses. There has been a significant increase in the acknowledgment and exploration of the social aspects involved in co-witness discussion as research has suggested that memory is a function of social as well as cognitive processes. (Bless 2001). Further research suggested that post event information obtained through discussion is more influential than information from a non-social source (Gabbert, Memon, Allan, & Wright, 2004). The misinformation effect refers to the finding that exposure to misleading information experienced post event between the encoding and recall of an event causes memory impairment. One of the consequences of the misinformation effect is memory conformity which is the idea that our memories could adopt things we discuss with others. Gabbert, Memon & Allen (2003), found that 71% of participants reported seeing something they hadn’t seen after conversing with co-witnesses. There are believed to be two reasons for memory conformity. The first is informational and refers to a person’s desire to be correct; therefore adopting things others say that they believe to be accurate. The second is normative motivation and refers to people’s desire to be liked and thus agreeing with what others have said, although there is much more evidence of the former.

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