2026-09-21T03:44:21Zhttps://ecommons.cornell.edu/server/oai/requestoai:ecommons.cornell.edu:1813/677312026-05-15T19:40:46Zcom_1813_35col_1813_47
Bialer, Daniel M.
Brainerd, Charles
Ceci, Stephen John
Hans, Valerie
2019-10-15T16:50:47Z
2019-10-15T16:50:47Z
2019-08-30
ProQuest Submission ID: 10654
ProQuest Publication ID: 22588814
https://hdl.handle.net/1813/67731
https://doi.org/10.7298/xc5y-mf97
11050717
Research in eyewitness identification has found that eyewitness confidence can be highly predictive of eyewitness accuracy if a set of pristine testing conditions are met. Fuzzy-trace theory (FTT), a dual-process theory of cognition and memory, predicts that the distinction between pristine and non-pristine conditions results from differing reliance on verbatim versus gist traces, with verbatim traces used more in pristine conditions and gist traces used more in non-pristine conditions. According to FTT, use of verbatim traces leads to absolute judgments and use of gist traces leads to relative judgments. The current study tests this theory by comparing eyewitness accuracy and confidence for lineups in which the foils are visually similar to the suspect, a requirement for pristine testing, with lineups in which most of the foils are dissimilar to the suspect. We presented these lineups both simultaneously and sequentially. As sequential lineups are thought to promote absolute judgments, we expected that, compared to simultaneous lineups, the distinction in the confidence-accuracy relationship between pristine and non-pristine conditions would be smaller. While we found that adding dissimilar foils to a fair lineup did lead to decreased accuracy and increased confidence in false identifications, we did not find any interactions between the lineup presentation (sequential or simultaneous) and the lineup composition, which does not support our hypothesis. These results may suggest that simultaneous versus sequential lineups may not be an effective manipulation of the use of absolute versus relative judgments. The data suggest that eyewitnesses are making relative judgments from sequential lineups.
en_US
Cognitive psychology
Law
Fuzzy-trace theory
confidence and accuracy
eyewitness identification
simultaneous and sequential lineups
Absolute and Relative Judgments and the Relationship Between Eyewitness Accuracy and Confidence
dissertation or thesis
application/pdf
Human Development
Cornell University
Master of Arts
M.A., Human Development
https://hdl.handle.net/1813/59810
Publication
Cornell Theses and Dissertations
Bialer, Daniel M.
5893a6ea-7af3-41d7-abc6-04bcd26ab5df
open.access
open.access
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<Title>Absolute and Relative Judgments and the Relationship Between Eyewitness Accuracy and Confidence</Title>
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<Abstract>Research in eyewitness identification has found that eyewitness confidence can be highly predictive of eyewitness accuracy if a set of pristine testing conditions are met. Fuzzy-trace theory (FTT), a dual-process theory of cognition and memory, predicts that the distinction between pristine and non-pristine conditions results from differing reliance on verbatim versus gist traces, with verbatim traces used more in pristine conditions and gist traces used more in non-pristine conditions. According to FTT, use of verbatim traces leads to absolute judgments and use of gist traces leads to relative judgments. The current study tests this theory by comparing eyewitness accuracy and confidence for lineups in which the foils are visually similar to the suspect, a requirement for pristine testing, with lineups in which most of the foils are dissimilar to the suspect. We presented these lineups both simultaneously and sequentially. As sequential lineups are thought to promote absolute judgments, we expected that, compared to simultaneous lineups, the distinction in the confidence-accuracy relationship between pristine and non-pristine conditions would be smaller. While we found that adding dissimilar foils to a fair lineup did lead to decreased accuracy and increased confidence in false identifications, we did not find any interactions between the lineup presentation (sequential or simultaneous) and the lineup composition, which does not support our hypothesis. These results may suggest that simultaneous versus sequential lineups may not be an effective manipulation of the use of absolute versus relative judgments. The data suggest that eyewitnesses are making relative judgments from sequential lineups.</Abstract>
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