The effects of confidence consistency and delay on perceptions of eyewitness credibility

Purpose

Abundant research has explored the conditions under which eyewitnesses are likely to identify guilty versus innocent suspects. Research suggests there is a relationship between witness confidence and accuracy, such that confident witnesses tend to be accurate, and this relationship can persist even across delays between witnessed events and identification procedures. Emerging research suggests that witnesses' metacognitive evaluations made prior to identification procedures are also diagnostic of accuracy. These findings about eyewitness memory are valuable, but it is unclear how these factors are evaluated when assessing witness confidence and accuracy.

Method

Two studies using a mock-officer paradigm examined how perceptions of witness confidence and accuracy are affected by variations in confidence both before and after identifications (Experiments 1 and 2), and the delay between the crime and the identification (Experiment 2).

Results and Conclusion

Although high confidence at either time increased perceived confidence and accuracy, longer delays between the event and identification procedure lowered ratings of perceived confidence and accuracy.