REALISM IN EYEWITNESS CONFIDENCE AS A FUNCTION OF TYPE OF EVENT WITNESSED AND REPEATED RECALL

This study investigated how the type of event witnessed and a repeated test schedule for confidence influenced the realism in confidence jud gments. The experimental design contrasted 2 film versions (a violent and a nonviolent scenario) and 3 tests of confidence (immediate, repea ted, and delayed). On average, for all single items, participants were highly overconfident in their judgments. However, the same participan ts severely underestimated their own performance when they, at the end of the test session, were asked to provide an estimate of how many qu estions they thought they had answered correctly. Whereas the effects on realism in confidence for the 2 different film versions were small, the realism in witnesses' confidence judgments increased when partici pants repeated their confidence ratings. The theoretical and forensica l implications of these findings are discussed.