The Dangers of Co-Witness Familiarity - Investigating the Effects of Co-Witness Relationships on Blame Conformity

Sep 11, 2026

Upload by Violet

This study examined how pre-existing relationships between co-witnesses affect statement similarity after a post-event discussion. An eyewitness simulation used 420 participants in groups of five to watch video of a bar fight, then discuss in groups before giving private individual statements. A one-way between-subjects design compared discussions with familiar co-witnesses, unfamiliar co-witnesses, or no discussion (control). Post-event co-witness discussion increased blame-attribution similarity, especially when co-witnesses shared prior relationships, while uncertainty decreased; no rise in false statements was observed.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryGeneral

FormatDOCX

Pages37

Reading Time13 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Background

Blame conformity

Co-Witness Familiarity and Blame Conformity This is the accepted version of the manuscript published by Springer in Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-018-9254-4 Citation: Mojtahedi, D., Ioannou, M., & Hammond, L. (2018). The Dangers of Co-witness Familiarity: Investigating the Effects of Co-witness Relationships on Blame Conformity. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology. doi:10.1007/s11896-018-9254-4 The Dangers of Co-Witness Familiarity: Investigating the Effects of Co-Witness Relationships on Group Conformity. Dara Mojtahedi1*, Maria Ioannou2 and Laura Hammond3 International Research Centre for Investigative Psychology, Department of Psychology, School of Human and Health Sciences, University of Huddersfield, UK *Requests for reprints should be addressed to Dara Mojtahedi, School of Human and Health Sciences, University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Huddersfield HD1 3DH, UK (e-mail: HYPERLINK "mailto:d.mojtahedi@hud.ac.uk" d.mojtahedi@hud.ac.uk). Co-Witness Familiarity and Blame Conformity The Dangers of Co-Witness Familiarity: Investigating the Effects of Co-Witness Relationships on Blame Conformity Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of pre-existing relationships between co-witnesses on statement similarity, after a post-event discussion. Although research studies have attempted to observe the effect of a pre-existing relationship on eyewitness pairs, few have investigated these effects on larger groups of co-witnesses. Four hundred and twenty participants took part in an eyewitness simulation experiment. Participants were placed into groups of five, and viewed video footage of a bar fight. After witnessing the event, participants discussed the event with group members before giving individual statements privately. The study employed a one-way between subjects design with three conditions; 1) participants discussed the event with familiar co-witnesses; 2) participants discussed the event with unfamiliar co-witnesses; and 3) participants were not permitted to discuss the event with their co-witnesses (control). It was found that post-event discussion between co-witnesses increased the level of similarity in blame attribution within the eyewitness groups; however, this difference was only significant in groups where eyewitnesses shared a pre-existing relationship. In addition, the level of uncertainty was reduced when eyewitnesses took part in post-event discussions. It is suggested that this might be attributed to an increased level of informational influence between familiar co-witnesses. However, there was no evidence suggesting that post-event discussions led to an increase in false eyewitness statements. Keywords: Eyewitness; Statement similarity; Conformity; Blame attribution; Eyewitness relationships. 2 Co-Witness Familiarity and Blame Conformity 1. Background Research indicates that both police officers (Kebbell & Milne, 1998) and jurors (Schmechel, O’Toole, Easterly, & Loftus, 2006) place a considerable amount of trust in the reliability and accuracy of eyewitness evidence. Evidence also suggests that the accuracy of eyewitness statements can be significantly tarnished if co-witnesses discuss the event with others prior to giving a statement (Skagerberg & Wright, 2008a). The prevalence of post-event discussions amongst co-witnesses is high, with survey reports indicating that 86% of real-life eyewitnesses discussed their witnessed event with other co-witnesses prior to giving evidence (Paterson & Kemp, 2006). The occurrence of such discussions can have significant implications for the investigation, with research indicating that eyewitnesses can be influenced by others to recall information that they did not witness, a process more commonly referred to as memory conformity (Carlucci, Kieckhaefer, Schwartz, Villalba, & Wright, 2010; Gabbert, Memon, & Allan, 2003; Gabbert, Memon, Allan, & Wright, 2004; Garry, French, Kinzett, & Mori,

FAQs

How was co-witness relationship familiarity tested in the study?

Participants were assigned to groups of five, viewed video footage of a bar fight, discussed with co-witnesses under three conditions (familiar, unfamiliar, or no discussion), and then provided private individual statements.

What did the study find about blame conformity?

Post-event discussion increased the similarity of blame attribution within eyewitness groups, and this effect was significant primarily when co-witnesses shared a pre-existing relationship.

Did post-event discussions lead to more false eyewitness statements?

The results found no evidence that post-event discussions increased the level of false eyewitness statements.

Sep 11, 2026

Upload by Violet