Can Decision-Making be Improved by Allowing Eyewitnesses to Opt-Out?: Examining the Utility of a ‘Not Sure’ Option With Showups
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I examined the impact of an explicit opt-out option on eyewitness identification performance. I predicted that an opt-out option would decrease innocent-suspect identifications more than culprit identifications, and that this effect would be more pronounced when viewing conditions were worse. I randomly assigned participants (N = 2003) to watch either a clear or degraded simulated-crime video. After a brief filler task, participants viewed either a culprit-present or culprit-absent showup and responded either "Yes" or "No". Half of the participants were randomly assigned to have an additional option to respond, "Not Sure". Contrary to my prediction, the not-sure option decreased both culprit (44% to 36%) and innocent-suspect (19% to 14%) identifications; this effect was unaffected by viewing condition quality. Despite empirical evidence and theoretical rationale indicating an opt-out option would improve the culprit and innocent-suspect identification tradeoff, the present results suggest otherwise.
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Copyright © 2019 the author(s). Theses may be used for non-commercial research, educational, or related academic purposes only. Such uses include personal study, research, scholarship, and teaching. Theses may only be shared by linking to Carleton University Institutional Repository and no part may be used without proper attribution to the author. No part may be used for commercial purposes directly or indirectly via a for-profit platform; no adaptation or derivative works are permitted without consent from the copyright owner.
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jalava-candecisionmakingbeimprovedbyallowingeyewitnesses.pdf | 2023-05-05 | Public | Download |