Factors That Can Interact with Familiarity

This chapter discusses system variables that are under the control of the criminal justice system and can be manipulated after the crime has occurred, such as the type of lineup procedure shown to the eyewitness. The chapter first discusses recall memory and the different interviewing protocols and how these may interact with familiarity to influence an eyewitness’ memory of the perpetrator as well as the environment and event. Next, the chapter focuses on recognition memory, specifically lineup identification. The different lineup procedures used to collect eyewitness evidence are discussed, in addition to how each procedure may promote higher rates of accuracy and eyewitness confidence when a familiar-stranger is the perpetrator. Last, the chapter discusses unconscious transference and the commitment effect.

Considering Familiarity as a Dependent Variable

This chapter discusses familiarity as a dependent variable, specifically focusing on memory errors that may occur when an eyewitness makes a familiarity judgment after witnessing a crime. The chapter highlights the link between familiarity memory errors and wrongful conviction. The chapter describes various factors within the justice system that may lead to familiarity errors, such as the concept of the mugshot commitment effect, mere prior exposure effects, and the presence of a bystander during the commission of the crime. Next, the chapter describes why familiarity errors occur and how they may be prevented by considering issues with source monitoring, unconscious transference, and stereotyping. Finally, the chapter describes other ways in which familiarity may lead to a wrongful conviction, such as alibis from familiar others.

Illusions

In this chapter, Münsterberg describes a number of cases and experiments that illustrate the vagaries and unreliability of human perception and memory, producing what he refers to as “illusions.” This chapter focuses on the illusions of unconscious transference, change blindness, and the confidence–accuracy relationship. Unconscious transference occurs when an eyewitness identifies an innocent bystander as a culprit because of a previous encounter with the bystander in another context. Change blindness is the inability to notice a change in a visual stimulus. The confidence–accuracy relationship has been one of the most controversial and complex aspects of eyewitness memory, as the strength of the relationship varies depending on a number of individual and situational characteristics, as well as methodological and analytic choices.