Date of Award
Spring 5-16-2019
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department/Program
Forensic Psychology
Language
English
First Advisor or Mentor
Steven Penrod
Second Reader
Margaret Kovera
Third Advisor
Kelly McWilliams
Abstract
Similarity and confidence are often analyzed in relation to eyewitness accuracy. Duds, highly dissimilar fillers, can impact an eyewitness’ accuracy and confidence. This study analyzed the impact of duds, similarity and accuracy in the context of lineup bias. This study found that in target-absent conditions there is a significant positive relationship between lineup bias and confidence. This study also found that highly similar lineups results in a lower proportion of correct identification, even in highly confident witnesses, compared to medium similar and low similar lineups. Further research should look closer at the “sweet spot” of similarity in order to advise and put in place proper similarity scores when picking fillers in lineups.
Recommended Citation
Booth, Shannon, "The Dud Effect: The Effect of Dissimilar Fillers in Eyewitness Lineups" (2019). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/jj_etds/115