Problems of Forensic Sciences 2012 Vol. 91 (XCI) 216-226
THE MISINFORMATION EFFECT AS A THREAT TO THE QUALITY OF EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY
Romuald POLCZYK, Mateusz POLAK, Malwina SZPITALAK, Karolina DUKAŁA, Rafał PAWLIK
Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian Universitety, Kraków, Poland
Streszczenie
The aim of this paper is to present the misinformation effect, which is a phenomenon involving the contamination of eyewitness testimony with information from sources other than the memory of the witnessed event. Theories based on memory-related, as well as non-memory-related processes are discussed, with particular attention devoted to the practical implications of these two approaches. The paper describes the possible means of reducing the misinformation effect: warning against external sources, the cognitive interview and reinforced self-affirmation. In this respect, the necessity to instruct the witnesses to base their testimonies exclusively on their own memories, and not on other sources, is of major importance.
Słowa kluczowe
Misinformation effect; Memory; Witness testimony.