Problems of Forensic Sciences 2012 Vol. 90 (XC) 136-145
TO MOTIVATE OR NOT TO MOTIVATE? THE INFLUENCEOF MOTIVATION ON SUSCEPTIBILITY TO MISINFORMATION
Malwina SZPITALAK, Romuald POLCZYK
Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
Streszczenie
This paper gives an account of research aimed at testing the influence of motivation on susceptibility to misinformation. To accomplish this, the moment of motivating the study participants was manipulated. In some of the groups this moment was at the beginning of the study, just before the original material was presented to the participants, while in others manipulation by motivation had already occurred before familiarising participants with the post-event material. It was found that misinformed participants who were motivated at the beginning of the study achieved higher accuracy in the memory test (and so also had a greater resistance to misinformation) than participants who had not been motivated. The investigation also confirmed the hypothesis that motivation aroused before the encoding of the post-event material causes engagement in the reception of this material to grow. When the post-event material constituted a misinforming description, correctness in completion of the memory test among the motivated participants declined considerably when compared to participants who had not been motivated. The results obtained by the study are discussed in relation to their practical use in the psychology of witness testimony.
Słowa kluczowe
Misinformation; Witness testimony; Memory; Motivation.