Gender-bias and its influence on the accuracy of eyewitness identification of perpetrators

<p>"Previous research has looked at how eyewitnesses can identify characteristically with victims of crimes, but few have looked at how eyewitnesses identify with the perpetrators in any capacity (Block, Greenberg, & Goodman, 2009). More specifically, few have looked at how gender-bias influences eyewitness identification of the perpetrator and characteristics (Butts, Mixon, Mulekar , & Bringmann, 1995; Wright & Sladden, 2003). The purpose of the current research was to look directly at how gender influenced the accuracy of eyewitness identification of a perpetrator. It was hypothesized that women would remember more details about a female perpetrator than a male perpetrator, and conversely, males would remember more details about a male perpetrator than a female perpetrator. It was also hypothesized that females would be overall more accurate than male participants. Participants were 165 college students volunteering in exchange for research credit. Participants observed a staged crime via recording while engaging in a monitoring task and completed measures of intelligence, demographic information, and trauma history as well as identifying information for perpetrators. Results were non- significant as to whether or not females are more accurate or have better recall of details but the results do have impact for future research; particularly in how vigilance can impact the accuracy of detailed recall"--Leaf iv.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS) in Psychology: Clinical

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Year

2015

Author dc:creator

• Conkey, Elizabeth K.

• Witnesses--Psychology
• Eyewitness identification--Psychological aspects
• Recollection (Psychology)
• Gender identity
• College students--Northwest
• Pacific--Psychology
• Psychology

Statement dc:rights

• Access is available to all users

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dc.ewu.edu/theses/325

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dc.ewu.edu:theses-1325