Gender-related differences in eyewitness testimony

Areh, Igor

doi:10.1016/j.paid.2010.11.027

Cited by 23 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Arousal may affect men and women's memory differently (Colley, Ball, Kirby, Harvey & Vingelen, ; Lindholm & Christianson, ). A recent study showed that among eyewitnesses, women were more accurate than men in person descriptions (Areh, ). Previous studies on intoxicated eyewitnesses have either not found any sex differences (Dysart, Lindsay, MacDonald & Wicke, ), or not conducted an analysis to investigate the matter (e.g., Schreiber Compo et al ., , ; van Oorsouw & Merckelbach, ; Yuille & Tollestrup, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bottled memories: On how alcohol affects eyewitness recall

Hagsand

Hjelmsäter

Granhag

et al. 2013

Scandinavian J Psychology

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This study investigated how different doses of alcohol affected eyewitness recall. Participants (N = 126) were randomly assigned to three groups with different blood alcohol concentration (BAC), either a control group (mean BAC 0.00%, N = 42), a lower alcohol dose group (mean BAC 0.04%, N = 40), or a higher alcohol dose group (mean BAC 0.06%, N = 44). After consumption, participants witnessed a movie of a mock crime and were interviewed one week later. The main results showed that witnesses with the higher intoxication level recalled fewer details compared to witnesses with the lower intoxication level. The amount of alcohol consumed did not have an impact on the accuracy rate. No sex differences were found. The results are discussed in the light of past research. We conclude that more studies are needed before recommendations can be made to an applied setting.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bottled memories: On how alcohol affects eyewitness recall

Hagsand

Hjelmsäter

Granhag

et al. 2013

Scandinavian J Psychology

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“…There is some evidence that gender differences may affect observation or memory. Female eyewitnesses are generally more accurate than their male counterparts, particularly when asked to describe others’ appearance (e.g., Areh, ; Horgan, Mast, Hall, & Carter, ; Powers et al ., ; Rehnman & Herlitz, ; but see Yarmey, Jacob, & Porter, ). In contrast, in the present study, detectives were more complete and accurate than civilians, despite the fact that most detectives were male, whereas most civilians were female.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Observing offenders: Incident reports by surveillance detectives, uniformed police, and civilians

Vredeveldt

Knol

Koppen

2015

Legal Criminol Psychol

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Purpose Police officers often write reports about witnessed incidents, which may serve as evidence in court. We examined whether incident reports and identifications by police officers, and in particular specialized detectives on surveillance teams, are more complete or more accurate than reports and identifications by civilian observers. Methods Our sample included 46 civilians, 52 uniformed police officers, and 42 surveillance detectives. Participants viewed a 15‐min video of a drug transaction and were allowed to take notes while watching. Before viewing the video, all participants received a priority list of information considered most relevant to the police investigation, which had been constructed by an expert panel. Subsequently, participants completed a questionnaire addressing different types of crime‐relevant information in the incident. They also viewed target‐present and target‐absent lineups: Two for persons central to the drug transaction and one for a background detail. Results Reports of uniformed police officers and detectives on surveillance teams were significantly more complete than reports of civilians, particularly for the top‐three priorities of crime‐relevant information. Moreover, reports by detectives were significantly more accurate than reports by uniformed police officers and civilians. Detectives were also significantly more likely to identify the persons from the lineup, whereas civilians were significantly more likely to identify the background detail. Conclusions Our findings demonstrate that police officers, and in particular specialized detectives on surveillance teams, are more observant of the crime‐relevant aspects of an incident than civilian observers. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

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“…The literature on eyewitness accuracy identifies age and gender as two variables that can have mediating effects on eyewitness performance (Areh, 2011;Megreya, Bindemann, & Havard, 2011;Memon, Bartlett, Rose, & Gray, 2003;Rehnman & Herlitz, 2007;Yarmey, 2004). These findings have led many researchers to question whether similar gender and age differences may also exist in an eyewitness's susceptibility to cowitness influence.…”

Section: Age Gender and Cowitness Suggestibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the effects of age and gender on cowitness suggestibility during blame attribution

Mojtahedi

Ιωάννου

Hammond

et al. 2019

Journal Invest Psychology

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Despite a large body of research investigating the effects of age and gender on eyewitness suggestibility, the majority of studies has focussed on the impressionability of participants when attempting to recall the presence of items from an event. Very little research has attempted to investigate the effects of age and gender on the suggestibility of eyewitnesses when attempting to attribute blame. Participants (N = 268) viewed and discussed a crime (video) with cowitnesses before giving individual statements. Confederates were used to expose the participants to misinformation during the discussion, suggesting that the wrong bystander was responsible for the offence. Findings indicated that participants who encountered the misinformation were more likely to make a false blame attribution and were more confident in their erroneous judgements. The results found no significant age‐ or gender‐related differences in blame conformity rates; however, male eyewitnesses showed greater levels of overconfidence in their false responses than female participants, after encountering cowitness misinformation.

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Gender-related differences in eyewitness testimony

Cited by 23 publications

References 35 publications

Bottled memories: On how alcohol affects eyewitness recall

Bottled memories: On how alcohol affects eyewitness recall

Observing offenders: Incident reports by surveillance detectives, uniformed police, and civilians

Investigating the effects of age and gender on cowitness suggestibility during blame attribution

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