[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-1-en-105":3,"doc-seo-237727-105":53,"doc-detail-237727-en":126},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,14,19,24,29,34,39,44,49],{"id":8,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":11,"show_sort_weight":12,"slug":13},11,1,"Template","Presentations",90,"presentations",{"id":15,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":16,"show_sort_weight":17,"slug":18},12,"Resumes",80,"resumes",{"id":20,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":21,"show_sort_weight":22,"slug":23},14,"Invoices",70,"invoices",{"id":25,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":26,"show_sort_weight":27,"slug":28},15,"Posters",60,"posters",{"id":30,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":31,"show_sort_weight":32,"slug":33},16,"Social Media",50,"social-media",{"id":35,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":36,"show_sort_weight":37,"slug":38},17,"Forms",40,"forms",{"id":40,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":41,"show_sort_weight":42,"slug":43},18,"Letters",30,"letters",{"id":45,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":46,"show_sort_weight":47,"slug":48},21,"Paper Templates",5,"papers-templates",{"id":50,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":51,"show_sort_weight":4,"slug":52},158,"General","general-158",{"code":4,"msg":54,"data":55},"ok",{"site_id":56,"language":57,"slug":58,"title":59,"keywords":60,"description":61,"schema_data":62,"social_meta":119,"head_meta":121,"extra_data":123,"updated_unix":125},105,"en","the-dangers-of-co-witness-familiarity-investigating-the-effects-of-co-witness-relationships-on-blame-conformity","The Dangers of Co-Witness Familiarity - Investigating the Effects of Co-Witness Relationships on Blame Conformity","","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.",{"@graph":63,"@context":118},[64,80,101],{"@type":65,"itemListElement":66},"BreadcrumbList",[67,71,74,77],{"item":68,"name":69,"@type":70,"position":9},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":72,"name":10,"@type":70,"position":73},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/",2,{"item":75,"name":51,"@type":70,"position":76},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/general/",3,{"item":78,"name":59,"@type":70,"position":79},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/the-dangers-of-co-witness-familiarity-investigating-the-effects-of-co-witness-relationships-on-blame-conformity/237727/",4,{"url":78,"name":59,"@type":81,"image":82,"author":87,"headline":59,"publisher":90,"fileFormat":93,"inLanguage":57,"description":61,"dateModified":94,"datePublished":95,"encodingFormat":93,"isAccessibleForFree":96,"interactionStatistic":97},"DigitalDocument",{"url":83,"@type":84,"width":85,"height":86},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-dangers-of-co-witness-familiarity-investigating-the-effects-of-co-witness-relationships-on-blame-conformity/237727.png","ImageObject",442,249,{"name":88,"@type":89},"Violet","Person",{"url":68,"name":91,"@type":92},"DocShare","Organization","application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document","2026-09-27","2026-09-11",true,{"@type":98,"interactionType":99,"userInteractionCount":47},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":100},"ViewAction",{"@type":102,"mainEntity":103},"FAQPage",[104,110,114],{"name":105,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":107},"How was co-witness relationship familiarity tested in the study?","Question",{"text":108,"@type":109},"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.","Answer",{"name":111,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":112},"What did the study find about blame conformity?",{"text":113,"@type":109},"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.",{"name":115,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":116},"Did post-event discussions lead to more false eyewitness statements?",{"text":117,"@type":109},"The results found no evidence that post-event discussions increased the level of false eyewitness statements.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":78,"og:type":120,"og:title":59,"og:site_name":91,"og:description":61},"article",{"robots":122,"canonical":78},"index,follow",{"doc_id":124,"site_id":56},237727,1790468698,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":127},{"doc_id":124,"user_id":128,"nickname":88,"user_avatar":129,"doc_module":9,"category_id":50,"category_name":51,"doc_title":59,"doc_description":61,"doc_content":130,"file_id":131,"file_url":132,"file_type":133,"file_size":134,"view_count":47,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":9,"is_downloadable":9,"audit_status":9,"page_count":135,"language":136,"language_code":57,"site_id":56,"html_lang":57,"table_of_contents":137,"faqs":138,"seo_title":139,"seo_description":61,"update_tm":140,"read_time":141},4398048950312,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/400002538284de19e3c?_k=1778320343897328908","Co-Witness Familiarity and Blame Conformity\nThis 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\nCitation:\nMojtahedi, 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\nThe Dangers of Co-Witness Familiarity: Investigating the Effects of Co-Witness Relationships on Group Conformity.\nDara Mojtahedi1*, Maria Ioannou2 and Laura Hammond3\nInternational Research Centre for Investigative Psychology, Department of Psychology, School of Human and Health Sciences, University of Huddersfield, UK\n*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: \u0013 HYPERLINK \"mailto:d.mojtahedi@hud.ac.uk\" \u0014d.mojtahedi@hud.ac.uk\u0015).\nCo-Witness Familiarity and Blame Conformity\nThe Dangers of Co-Witness Familiarity: Investigating the Effects of Co-Witness\nRelationships on Blame Conformity\nAbstract\nThe 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.\nKeywords: Eyewitness; Statement similarity; Conformity; Blame attribution; Eyewitness\nrelationships.\n2\nCo-Witness Familiarity and Blame Conformity\n1. Background\nResearch 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,","cbCaivgLjTJhpL4K","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaivgLjTJhpL4K","docx",46650,37,"English","# Abstract\n# Background\n## Blame conformity","[{\"question\":\"How was co-witness relationship familiarity tested in the study?\",\"answer\":\"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.\"},{\"question\":\"What did the study find about blame conformity?\",\"answer\":\"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.\"},{\"question\":\"Did post-event discussions lead to more false eyewitness statements?\",\"answer\":\"The results found no evidence that post-event discussions increased the level of false eyewitness statements.\"}]","The Dangers of Co-Witness Familiarity - Investigating the Effects of Co-Witness Relationships on Blame Conformity | DOCX",1789122316,13]