Date of Graduation

5-2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts in Psychology

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Psychological Science

Advisor/Mentor

Lampinen, James M.

Committee Member

Makhanova, Anastasia

Second Committee Member

Scott, Adrienne

Third Committee Member

Drawve, Grant

Abstract

A significant percentage of wrongful convictions are a result of faulty eyewitness identifications. It is understood that jurors are quick to trust and eyewitness testimony, that eyewitness testimonies are reliable only in specific circumstances, and that jurors are rarely privy to importance of the factors that impact the reliability of eyewitness testimony. Although an expert testimony is sometimes a beneficial way to help compensate for this lack of knowledge in jurors, it can sometimes be counterintuitive and cause jurors to disregard all eyewitness testimonies rather than only disregarding the unreliable ones. This study considers four individual difference factors and looks at how they may or may not impact a juror perception of expert testimony.

Keywords

eyewitness; expert; cognition; orientation; credulity; credibility

Comments

Writing this was a brutal but fabulous experience and I am grateful to be here!

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