Distinguishing accurate from inaccurate eyewitness identifications via inquiries about decision processes.

Abstract

Accurate eyewitness identifications can be distinguished from erroneous ones in part by asking witnesses to describe the decision processes that led to their judgments. In 4 studies, mock witnesses were presented with a videotaped staged crime and then asked to identify the perpetrator from a photo lineup. Of those making positive identifications, accurate witnesses were more likely than their inaccurate counterparts to state that their judgments resulted from automatic recognition (e.g., «His face just 'popped out' at me»). Inaccurate witnesses more frequently stated that they followed a process of elimination strategy (e.g., «I compared the photos to each other to narrow the choices»). A 5th study revealed that people have partial understanding of these principles, and thus are modestly succesful in differentiating accurate from inaccurate identifications