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Evaluating eyewitness testimony: Does gender matter?

Evaluating eyewitness testimony: Does gender matter?. Igor Areh Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security, University of Maribor. Introduction. Gender is aknowleged as one of the factors significantly influening memory recall. Women outperform men in:

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Evaluating eyewitness testimony: Does gender matter?

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  1. Evaluating eyewitness testimony: Does gender matter? Igor Areh Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security, University of Maribor

  2. Introduction • Gender is aknowleged as one of the factors significantly influening memory recall. • Women outperform men in: • Face recognition (Rehnman & Herlitz, 2007; Shapiro & Penrod, 1986) • Recall of everdy tasks (Lindholm & Christianson, 1998) • Recall of stories (Zelinski, Gilewski, & Schaie, 1993) • Recall of names(Herlitz, Nilsson, & Bäckman, 1997) • Recall of episodic memories (Herlitz & Rehnman, 2008; Tulving, 1993) • Men outperform women in: • Recall of spacial information (Loftus, Banaji, Scooler, & Foster, 1987)

  3. Introduction Hipotheses • Women will be more accurate in memory recall than men. • Women outperform men in the quantity of memory recall. • Men are more confident about the accuracy of their memory recal than women.

  4. Method Participants • 280 undergraduate students, 18 to 21 years old (Me = 19). • Their participation was voluntary. • 161 (56%) women, 119 (44%) men. Material • A two minute video recoding of a violent robbery. • A man physically attacks a woman, at the end he snatches her purse and runs out of the building • The video looks like a recording made by a colour surveillance camera mounted on the staircase ceiling.

  5. Method Procedure • Participants watched the video in small groups. • The reason for watching the video was help criminal investigators to test assumptions regarding the crime. • Memory recall checked one week after watching the recording.

  6. Method Instrument 1. A checklist with a break-down of visual and audio event details • The place of the incident and objects at the place • Personal descriptions of the perpetrator and victim. • Each item in the checklist has 6 responses available including „I don‘t know“. 2. How certain are you about your recall?

  7. Results Gender differences in the accuracy and quantity of memory recall

  8. ResultsSelf-perceived accuracy and confidence

  9. Discussion • Memory recall of females is more accurate than of males. • The difference is small and the finding corresponds with results of some other researchers. • Possible influence: • Females pay more attention to the personal appearance of other people (Loftus, 1996). • 75% of the items in the checklist were about both persons appearance.

  10. Discussion • No differences between female and male participants in the amount of information recalled. • Possible influence: • Memory recall was limited since the check list was used. • Males were more confident in assessing the reliability of their memory. • Consistent with others (e.g. Yarmey, 1993). • The difference is small and not justified since females were more accurate.

  11. Thank you for your attention. igor.areh@gmail.com

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