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The Influence of Eyewitness Similarity to a Crime Victim and Victim Culpability on Eyewitness Recall

Description: Participants watched a videotape depicting a street robbery and completed a questionnaire relating to their recall of the stimulus. It was predicted that recall would be biased as a result of motivation to reduce threat posed by viewing a similar victim not engaging in culpable behavior. Results showed that those who viewed a similar victim who was not culpable tended to exaggerate the distance between the criminal and the victim and the duration of the incident. The results are consistent with the assumption that such biased recall allowed participants to reduce the threat by blaming the victim for not taking advantage of the opportunity to avoid the victimization.

Suggested Citation:
Marsh, D. P. & Greenberg, M. S. (2006). The Influence of Eyewitness Similarity to a Crime Victim and Victim Culpability on Eyewitness Recall [Electronic Version]. Applied Psychology in Criminal Justice, 2(1), 43-56.

Keywords: eyewitness recall, memory, eyewitness, testimony

Date: May 30, 2006 | File Size: 66.65 Kb | Downloads: 2689

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