Studies exploring the change blindness phenomenon have consistently shown that individuals are surprisingly poor at detecting changes to visual scenes and identities in real-world interactions. The area of eyewitness identification has revealed a similar type of visual processing error; specifically, the tendency for eyewitnesses to incorrectly identify a perpetrator. Recently, researchers have attempted to merge these two areas, creating a combined change blindness/eyewitness paradigm, allowing for the study of variables of similar interest within the two areas. Using this type of combined paradigm, the present study explored the possibility of an own-gender bias within a change blindness/eyewitness experience. Participants viewed a video of a simulated house burglary, with the identity of the burglar changing halfway through the film. To assess for gender bias, two videos were created: one with two female burglars and one with two male burglars. After viewing the video, 144 participants were given a photo lineup and asked to identify the correct burglar. Contrary to what was expected, an own-gender bias failed to emerge in both change detection and identification accuracy. Implications for change blindness and eyewitness misidentification are further discussed.
","abstract_html":"<p>Studies exploring the change blindness phenomenon have consistently shown that individuals are surprisingly poor at detecting changes to visual scenes and identities in real-world interactions. The area of eyewitness identification has revealed a similar type of visual processing error; specifically, the tendency for eyewitnesses to incorrectly identify a perpetrator. Recently, researchers have attempted to merge these two areas, creating a combined change blindness/eyewitness paradigm, allowing for the study of variables of similar interest within the two areas. Using this type of combined paradigm, the present study explored the possibility of an own-gender bias within a change blindness/eyewitness experience. Participants viewed a video of a simulated house burglary, with the identity of the burglar changing halfway through the film. To assess for gender bias, two videos were created: one with two female burglars and one with two male burglars. After viewing the video, 144 participants were given a photo lineup and asked to identify the correct burglar. Contrary to what was expected, an own-gender bias failed to emerge in both change detection and identification accuracy. Implications for change blindness and eyewitness misidentification are further discussed.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Finstad, Alison E."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Psychology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2009,"date_issued":"2009-08-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2009-08-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:25:54Z","subjects":["Psychology"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.und.edu/theses/897","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Finstad, Alison E."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Psychology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Psychology"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.und.edu/theses/897"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Studies exploring the change blindness phenomenon have consistently shown that individuals are surprisingly poor at detecting changes to visual scenes and identities in real-world interactions. The area of eyewitness identification has revealed a similar type of visual processing error; specifically, the tendency for eyewitnesses to incorrectly identify a perpetrator. Recently, researchers have attempted to merge these two areas, creating a combined change blindness/eyewitness paradigm, allowing for the study of variables of similar interest within the two areas. Using this type of combined paradigm, the present study explored the possibility of an own-gender bias within a change blindness/eyewitness experience. Participants viewed a video of a simulated house burglary, with the identity of the burglar changing halfway through the film. To assess for gender bias, two videos were created: one with two female burglars and one with two male burglars. After viewing the video, 144 participants were given a photo lineup and asked to identify the correct burglar. Contrary to what was expected, an own-gender bias failed to emerge in both change detection and identification accuracy. Implications for change blindness and eyewitness misidentification are further discussed.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The Emergence of an Own-Gender Bias Within a Change Blindness and Eyewitness Paradigm"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Finstad, Alison E."],"dc:description.abstract":["Studies exploring the change blindness phenomenon have consistently shown that individuals are surprisingly poor at detecting changes to visual scenes and identities in real-world interactions. The area of eyewitness identification has revealed a similar type of visual processing error; specifically, the tendency for eyewitnesses to incorrectly identify a perpetrator. Recently, researchers have attempted to merge these two areas, creating a combined change blindness/eyewitness paradigm, allowing for the study of variables of similar interest within the two areas. Using this type of combined paradigm, the present study explored the possibility of an own-gender bias within a change blindness/eyewitness experience. Participants viewed a video of a simulated house burglary, with the identity of the burglar changing halfway through the film. To assess for gender bias, two videos were created: one with two female burglars and one with two male burglars. After viewing the video, 144 participants were given a photo lineup and asked to identify the correct burglar. Contrary to what was expected, an own-gender bias failed to emerge in both change detection and identification accuracy. Implications for change blindness and eyewitness misidentification are further discussed.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.und.edu/theses/897"],"dc:subject":["Psychology"],"dc:title":["The Emergence of an Own-Gender Bias Within a Change Blindness and Eyewitness Paradigm"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Psychology"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:25:54Z"}