An Examination of the Credibility of Witnesses who Recall a Repeated Event: Cognitive Competence, Honesty, and Perceived Credibility

Abstract

The credibility of an eyewitness can have a pivotal influence upon fact-finders’ determinations. This is particularly true for recurring events like domestic violence, wherein there is often limited evidence to corroborate the witness’ narrative. This thesis examined the credibility of adults who recall a repeated event. Witness credibility was examined along the dimensions of cognitive competence, honesty, and perceived credibility. Section 1 examined the dimension of cognitive competence, via an assessment of memory accuracy. Experiments 1 and 2 examined adults’ ability to recall a single or repeated event that varied across occurrences. The results indicated that adults are likely to have difficulty recalling details about a specific occurrence of a repeated event. Section 2 examined the credibility dimension of honesty. In this section, the utility of the content analysis technique, reality monitoring, was assessed when speakers recall a repeated event. In Experiments 3 and 4, undergraduate students recalled an event that had been experienced once, repeatedly, or was fabricated. In both experiments, reality monitoring reliably classified veracity when speakers recalled a single event, but not a repeated event. In Section 3, the perceived credibility of repeated-event witnesses was examined. In Experiments 5 and 6, evaluators observed a video of a speaker who recalled a single, repeated, or fabricated event. In both experiments, event repetition had a detrimental effect upon the perceived credibility of speakers. Along each dimension, evidence of deficits emerged in the credibility of repeated-event witnesses, relative to single- or fabricated-event witnesses. These results indicate that repeated-event witnesses are unlikely to be perceived as high in credibility. This thesis should encourage collaboration between legal professionals and experts in memory, to protect the credibility of genuine witnesses who recall a repeated event.