The Effects of Stress and the Own-Race Bias on Eyewitness Identification Accuracy
Presentation Type
Presentation
Full Name of Faculty Mentor
Andrew Terranova, Psychology
Major
Psychology
Presentation Abstract
The accuracy of eyewitness identification has been a topic of study in order to understand how different factors can increase or decrease the reliability of eyewitness memory. The confidence of witnesses is commonly used by judges and jurors in court to determine their identification’s accuracy and reliability (Cutler et al., 1990), but certain factors can decrease accuracy, including stress (Pezdek et al., 2021) and the own-race bias—the idea that people are better at identifying individuals of the same race than across races—(Brigham et al., 1982; Wright et al., 2001; Pezdek et al., 2012; Vitrol et al., 2019), regardless of confidence. Also, confidence may be inflated by the procedures used to present lineups to witnesses, like giving confirming feedback after an identification is made (Wells & Bradfield, 1998). This study will examine how stress and the own-race bias affect identification accuracy in college students, as well as how these factors interact with the confidence-accuracy relationship, in a 2-race condition (same-race vs. cross-race) x 2 stress induction (stress vs. no stress) between-participants experimental design.
Start Date
12-4-2023 3:00 PM
End Date
12-4-2023 3:20 PM
Disciplines
Psychology
Recommended Citation
Bartosh, Madeline, "The Effects of Stress and the Own-Race Bias on Eyewitness Identification Accuracy" (2023). Undergraduate Research Competition. 58.
https://digitalcommons.coastal.edu/ugrc/2023/fullconference/58
The Effects of Stress and the Own-Race Bias on Eyewitness Identification Accuracy
The accuracy of eyewitness identification has been a topic of study in order to understand how different factors can increase or decrease the reliability of eyewitness memory. The confidence of witnesses is commonly used by judges and jurors in court to determine their identification’s accuracy and reliability (Cutler et al., 1990), but certain factors can decrease accuracy, including stress (Pezdek et al., 2021) and the own-race bias—the idea that people are better at identifying individuals of the same race than across races—(Brigham et al., 1982; Wright et al., 2001; Pezdek et al., 2012; Vitrol et al., 2019), regardless of confidence. Also, confidence may be inflated by the procedures used to present lineups to witnesses, like giving confirming feedback after an identification is made (Wells & Bradfield, 1998). This study will examine how stress and the own-race bias affect identification accuracy in college students, as well as how these factors interact with the confidence-accuracy relationship, in a 2-race condition (same-race vs. cross-race) x 2 stress induction (stress vs. no stress) between-participants experimental design.