Abstract
A set of reforms proposed in 1999 directed the police how to conduct an eyewitness lineup. The promise of these system variable reforms was that they would enhance eyewitness accuracy. However, the promising initial evidence in support of this claim failed to materialize; at best, these reforms make an eyewitness more conservative. The chapter begins by reviewing the initial evidence supporting the move to description-matched filler selection, unbiased instructions, sequential presentation, and the discounting of confidence judgments. We next describe four reasons why the field reached incorrect conclusions regarding these reforms. These include a failure to appreciate the distinction between discriminability and response bias, a reliance on summary measures of performance that conflate discriminability and response bias or mask the relationship between confidence and accuracy, and the distorting role of relative judgment theory. The reforms are then reevaluated in light of these factors and recent empirical data. We conclude by calling for a theory-driven approach to developing and evaluating the next generation of system variable reforms.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Psychology of Learning and Motivation - Advances in Research and Theory, 2015 |
Editors | Brian H. Ross |
Publisher | Elsevier Academic Press Inc |
Pages | 1-43 |
Number of pages | 43 |
ISBN (Print) | 9780128022467 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2015 |
Publication series
Name | Psychology of Learning and Motivation - Advances in Research and Theory |
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Volume | 63 |
ISSN (Print) | 0079-7421 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation grant SES-1060902 to Scott Gronlund, NSF grant SES-1155248 to John Wixted and Laura Mickes, and NSF grant SES-061183 to Steve Clark. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.