It happened as I said: Effects of Retellings on Eyewitnesses Event Memory

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Gerald Echterhoff
• Co-Applicant: Professorin Dr. Amina Memon
• Subject Area: Social Psychology, Industrial and Organisational Psychology
• Term: from 2007 to 2012
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 41386462

When describing a perceived event to others, a communicator will tailor the message to the audience. The project examines how a message which is ‘tuned’ to the audience can change or bias the way in which the original event is remembered and evaluated by the communicator. Whereas previous research has studied eyewitnesses primarily as recipients of biasing information from other sources, the present project focuses on how eyewitnesses produce their own memory biases during the process of communication with others. A key factor to be varied is ‘shared reality,’ which captures how communicators experience the communication with the person they are tuning to (e.g., whether they feel they achieve a joint view with their audience). A series of seven experiments is proposed in which we manipulate the likelihood of shared reality creation (high vs. low uncertainty about the event; sharedreality vs. instrumental goals for audience tuning; positive vs. negative audience feedback; appropriate vs. inappropriate audience). In addition to the standard memory measures, we also employ source-memory tests to explore whether eyewitnesses exhibiting a greater (vs. lower) memory bias are less likely to discriminate correctly between information from the witnessed event and communicated information. This collaboration is especially promising because it links and integrates Gerald Echterhoff’s expertise in theoretical approaches to social influence and rigorous experimental investigation of underlying processes with Amina Memon’s long-standing experience in practical applications and experimentation emphasizing ecological validity. The novel insights from this project will be useful from both a basic and an applied perspective, for instance by providing a better understanding of the factors determining the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: United Kingdom