SOME BOUNDARY-CONDITIONS FOR BYSTANDER MISIDENTIFICATION

Citation
Mr. Phillips et al., SOME BOUNDARY-CONDITIONS FOR BYSTANDER MISIDENTIFICATION, Criminal justice and behavior, 24(3), 1997, pp. 370-390
Citations number
24
Categorie Soggetti
Criminology & Penology
ISSN journal
00938548
Volume
24
Issue
3
Year of publication
1997
Pages
370 - 390
Database
ISI
SICI code
0093-8548(1997)24:3<370:SBFBM>2.0.ZU;2-B
Abstract
For this study, 650 undergraduate students viewed a videotaped, simula ted robbery. Participants were significantly more likely to select a b ystander from a photoarray than the actual perpetrator, and they were more confident in their misidentifications of the bystander. Participa nts who were shown a photoarray without the bystander present were ove r six times more likely to select the perpetrator than observers who w ere shown an array that included the bystander. The significant miside ntifications of the bystander were eliminated when the event was resta ged to show both the bystander and the perpetrator for a few seconds i n the same frames of the video. It was concluded that mere bystander p resence is not sufficient to produce significant bystander misidentifi cations and that an eyewitness must make an inference that the bystand er and the perpetrator are the same person. Implications for the under standing of unconscious transference are explored.