Audience-Congruent Biases in Eyewitness Memory and Judgment
Influences of a Co-Witness’ Liking for a Suspect
Abstract
In studies on biased eyewitness memory, the biasing information about the witnessed event is typically detailed and specific. We investigated the influence of global biasing information, such as a co-witness’ impression of a suspect. Student participants watched a video depicting a bar-brawl involving a male target person. After retelling the incident to a generic fellow student who presumably disliked (vs. liked) the target person, participants exhibited audience-congruent biases in memory and judgment: They remembered more negative information about the target, believed he was more responsible, and assigned him longer penalties. No such effects were found when participants were less motivated to create a shared view about the incident (with the audience being a student from a different study field).
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