Personality Correlates of Co-witness Suggestibility

The present study examined the relationship between co-witness suggestibility and individual differences in interpersonal characteristics. Participants (N=473) took part in an eyewitness simulation, five independent conditions were used to control for misinformation size. Using confederates, the researchers exposed participants to misinformation about the witnessed event, prior to collecting their statements. The participants then completed the Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation-Behaviour assessment (FIRO-B; Schutz, 1958), a measure of expressed and wanted control, affection, and inclusion. Results suggested that the wanted control dimension was an accurate predictor of co-witness suggestibility. Eyewitnesses who scored highly on Wanted Control, were significantly more likely to accept misinformation from co-witnesses; and were more likely to lose confidence in their own judgements, after a group discussion. In addition, the results suggest that the unanimity of misinformation, but not the size, had a significant influence on co-witness suggestibility

Investigating the effects of co-witness influence on blame attribution.

Through the use of misinformation paradigms, research has demonstrated that eyewitnesses can be influenced by their co-witnesses when attempting to attribute blame to the correct person in incidents where there are multiple potential suspects at blame (such as a fight or car accident). The act of blame conformity could directly contribute to the false conviction of innocent bystanders and should therefore be a central focus for research. Yet very little research has attempted to investigate the moderating factors associated with blame conformity. The present thesis investigated the effects of co-witness influence on eyewitness blame attribution. More specifically, the thesis sought to identify the external and internal predictors of blame conformity. A similar experimental paradigm to Thorley (2015) was created to observe blame conformity. In the present studies, confederates were used to expose participants to misleading post-event information about the witnessed crime footage (suggesting that the wrong person had initiated the assault). Participants were then interviewed and asked if they could determine which person from the incident was to blame for initiating the assault. A series of internal and external variables were measured and manipulated to identify the most accurate predictors of blame conformity. In total, four studies were carried out: The studies investigated the effects of age and gender (study 1a); unanimity and group size of misinformation (study 1b; using same data as 1a); personality characteristics (FIRO-B assessment)(study 2); co-witness familiarity (study 3); and the perceived intelligence and authority of the misinformation source (study 4), on co-witness influence. The results found no significant age or gender-related differences in blame conformity. In relation to personality; the results suggested eyewitnesses who scored highly on the wanted control dimension were more likely to accept misinformation from cowitnesses, and were more likely to lose confidence in their own judgements after a group discussion. Results also indicated that participants were more vulnerable to co-witness influence when exposed to misinformation from a majority of co witnesses. Misinformation presented by an individual confederate did not have a significant influence on participants’ responses. It was found that the level of statement similarity with regard to blame attribution was higher when the co-witnesses had a pre-existing relationship. Results indicated that participants were also more likely to conform to the confederate if she was presented as having high intelligence, in comparison to a confederate whose personal characteristics were undisclosed. After controlling for perceived intelligence, the perceived authority of the confederate did not have a significant effect on their influence over the participants. The implications and practical applications of the findings — as well as directions for future research— are discussed within the thesis

The Effects of Memory Conformity as a Function of Co-Witness Familiarity

The present study examined the effects of a co-witness familiarity on statement similarity. The study aimed to determine whether eyewitnesses were at a higher risk of conforming to co-witnesses that they were familiar with, than to unfamiliar co-witnesses. The study utilised a novel experimental paradigm in which participants viewed footage of a crime before partaking in a post-event discussion with their group. The study used a between-subjects design, where participants either had a pre-existing relationship with their co-witnesses, had no previous relations to their co-witnesses, or were not permitted to discuss the event with their co-witnesses (control). Four hundred twenty participants took part in the study. They were placed into groups of five and viewed a CCTV footage of a crime. Participants then took part in a post-event discussion with group members before giving individual statements. A one-way between groups analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted. Results indicated that a post-event discussion significantly increased the level of statement similarity with eyewitness groups, but only when the co-witnesses shared a pre-existing relationship. The results also indicated that uncertain eyewitnesses were most susceptible to co-witness influence. The results indicate that eyewitnesses are more likely to accept contradicting information from peers than from strangers. Explanations for the findings, along with implication for police interventions, are discussed

Making an Arsonist: A Psychological Approach to Understanding Expressive Arson

The offence of arson comes under the category of property crime, although the serious consequences of the offence often have a huge impact on both people and public costs, with serious injury and death potential outcomes. As with many crimes, there are various motivations that may behind a person committing arson. These can be understood under whether the offence was instrumental and therefore carrying out the crime for personal gain, or expressive, carrying out the offence due to difficulty in expressing their emotions. Instrumental arsonists may be easier to detect due to an often obvious financial or personal motivation, and these offenders are generally more common within the population of arsonists. However, perhaps more important to explore in relation to where psychology can best aid understanding and inform practice, is in cases where there is little or no instrumental value. These expressive arsonists are significantly more likely to reoffend than their instrumental counterparts, adding further to the need to gain a greater understanding of the factors that play a role in such individuals’ trajectories. The present paper reviews the current literature surrounding expressive arson to present a more comprehensive understanding of the factors that contribute to this deviant behaviour. In doing so, the present paper draws on explanations from developmental, psychopathological and personality psychology to critically form such an understanding and present this in an understandable way that possesses heuristic value for the psychological community with an interest in this area

The malleability of eyewitnesses: investigating the external predictors for eyewitness suggestibility

Introduction. A series of experiments were conducted to identify the salient characteristics within a post-event discussion that could increase the suggestibility of an eyewitnesses to misinformation from co-witnesses. The effects of the majority size (number of eyewitnesses presenting the misinformation), target group (number of eyewitnesses exposed to misinformation) and unanimity of misinformation amongst co-witnesses were explored. Method Five hundred fifty-six participants took part in an eyewitness simulation experiment. Participants were placed into groups and viewed video footage of a bar fight taking place. After witnessing the event, participants discussed the event with group members before giving individual statements privately. Through the use of confederates, the participants were exposed to misinformation. A mixed design was employed, with target group size and confederate size acting as the independent variables within the study. Results. The results indicated that misinformation size, as well as the unanimity of misinformation, were significant predictors for eyewitness suggestibility (P<.001). However, target group size was not able to predict for eyewitness suggestibility. Discussion. The findings indicated that an increase in the size of the misinformation source had a strong positive relationship with eyewitness suggestibility, with the rate of increase in eyewitness suggestibility remaining relatively constant as the misinformation size increased. Furthermore, despite the target group size showing no direct relationship with eyewitness suggestibility, the results indicated that if the misinformation was not unanimously held by all co-witnesses, the target would be significantly less likely to conform to the false information

The Missing Link in Training to Detect Deception and its Implications for Justice

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of response bias and target gender on detecting deception. Design/methodology/approach: Participants were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: a stereotype condition (bogus training group), a tell-signs condition (empirically tested cues), and a control condition. Participants were required to decide whether eight targets were lying or telling the truth, based upon the information they had been given. Accuracy was measured via a correct or incorrect response to the stimuli. The data were then analyzed using a 2×2×3 mixed analysis of variance (ANOVA) to determine whether any main or interactional effects were present. Findings: Results revealed training condition had no significant effect on accuracy, nor was there a within-subject effect of gender. However, there was a significant main effect of accuracy in detecting truth or lies, and a significant interaction between target gender and detecting truth or lies. Research limitations/implications: Future research should seek a larger sample of participants with a more extensive training aspect developed into the study, as the brief training offered here may not be fully reflective of the extent and intensity of training which could be offered to professionals. Originality/value: Within the criminal justice system, the need for increased accuracy in detecting deception is of critical importance; not only to detect whether a guilty individual is being deceitful, but also whether someone is making a false confession, both to improve community safety by detaining the correct perpetrator for the crime but also to maintain public trust in the justice system. The present research provides a fresh insight into the importance of training effects in detecting deception

Criminal Geography and Geographical Profiling within Police Investigations – A Brief Introduction

Understanding the interaction between geography and crime has a long tradition throughout the world. If successfully deconstructed and understood, criminal geography can be used to help police strategically target increasingly scarce resources to prevent and reduce crime, as well as helping police investigators to locate and arrest serial offenders. Geographical Profiling (GP) or Geographical Offender Profiling (GOP), revolves around the premise that information regarding crime-related locations can be utilised and scrutinized to identify the most probable location from which a serial offender is based. Using purpose-built computerised decision support systems, underpinned by psycho-geographical theory and research derived from similar known offender spatial behaviours, police investigations can be assisted in many ways. Most notably, by plotting the known crime locations within a particular crime series, decision support systems are able to generate ‘hot-spot’ areas of high probability and priority. Importantly, this provides police investigators with actionable geographical information which can be used to direct resources towards a likely offender base location and thereby rapidly narrow down large suspect pools into a more manageable number. Contemporary police application of traditional GP methods are discussed

Group size, misinformation and unanimity influences on co-witness judgments

Researchers have typically observed the effects of co-witness influence on eyewitness pairs. However, research suggests that individuals are more likely to witness crimes in larger groups. Additionally, there is an abundance of evidence suggesting that social influence is heavily moderated by group size. Therefore, the present study aimed to gain a more accurate understanding of the risks of co-witness influence in relation to unanimity and group size effects. Participants (N=608) viewed and discussed a CCTV footage of a fight breaking out, with co-witnesses, before giving individual statements, where they were asked to identify which person had started the fight; confederates were used to suggest that the wrong man had started the fight. Results indicated that participants were vulnerable to co-witness influence, but only when exposed to misinformation from a majority of co-witnesses. Misinformation presented by an individual confederate did not have a significant influence over the participants’ responses. This study was the first to investigate the effects of group size on blame attribution. The findings suggest that the true risks of co-witness influence may not be as high as originally predicted from research on eyewitness pairs

Juror characteristics on trial: Investigating how psychopathic traits, rape attitudes, victimization experiences, and juror demographics influence decision-making in an intimate partner rape trial

IntroductionTrial by jury is a longstanding legal tradition used in common law jurisdictions to try the most serious of criminal cases. Yet, despite hearing the same trial evidence, individual jurors often arrive at different verdict decisions, indicating that they may be impacted by more than the evidence presented at trial. This study therefore sought to investigate the role of jurors’ psychopathology, attitudinal, experiential, and demographic characteristics upon individual verdict decisions.MethodsAdopting an improved mock trial paradigm, 108 jury-eligible participants took part in one of nine identical 12-person mock trial simulations depicting a videotaped recreation of an intimate partner rape trial. Pre-trial, mock-jurors completed a psychosocial survey capturing their psychopathic personality traits (affective and cognitive responsiveness, interpersonal manipulation; egocentricity), rape myth beliefs, victimization experiences and demographics. Post-trial, jurors deliberated to reach a collective group decision and individual verdict decisions were recorded pre- and post-deliberation.ResultsBinary logistic regression analyses revealed rape myth beliefs and juror ethnicity were significantly related to verdict decisions both pre- and post-deliberation. Post-deliberation, decreased affective responsiveness (empathy) and experience of sexual victimization were also found to be significant predictors of guilty verdict selections.DiscussionThese findings indicate for the first time that within an intimate-partner rape trial, certain psychosocial traits, crime-specific attitudes, and experiences of sexual victimization appear to predispose juror judgments and decision-making even after group-deliberation. This study therefore has important implications for understanding how individual differences among jurors may impact rape trial verdict outcomes and the need for targeted juror reforms