Audience-Congruent Biases in Eyewitness Memory and Judgment

Abstract

In studies on biased eyewitness memory, the biasing information about the witnessed event is typically detailed and specific. We investigated the influence of global biasing information, such as a co-witness’ impression of a suspect. Student participants watched a video depicting a bar-brawl involving a male target person. After retelling the incident to a generic fellow student who presumably disliked (vs. liked) the target person, participants exhibited audience-congruent biases in memory and judgment: They remembered more negative information about the target, believed he was more responsible, and assigned him longer penalties. No such effects were found when participants were less motivated to create a shared view about the incident (with the audience being a student from a different study field).