Richard Gonzalez
Center Director, Research Center for Group Dynamics, Institute for Social Research
Director, BioSocial Methods Collaborative, RCGD
Amos N Tversky Collegiate Professor, Psychology and Statistics, LSA
Professor of Marketing, Stephen M Ross School of Business
Professor of Integrative Systems and Design, College of Engineering
| E-mail: | Email Richard Gonzalez |
| Address: | Research Center for Group Dynamics Institute for Social Research University of Michigan 426 Thompson Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 |
| Phone: | 734-647-6785 |
who should stand next to suspect
Gonzalez, R., Davis, J. & Ellsworth, P. (1995). Who should stand next to the suspect? Arrangement effects in the lineup. Journal of Applied Psychology, 80, 525-531. 10.1037/0021-9010.80.4.525 PDF
Abstract
A common procedure for assessing the fairness of a lineup is to give a verbal description of the perpetrator to people who did not witness the incident and ask them to select the likely perpetrator from the lineup. If people who never saw the perpetrator nonetheless make the “right choice” significantly more often than chance, the implication is that the lineup is unfairly suggestive. Little is known, however, about the factors that might bias this mock witness procedure. Two such biasing factors were examined in this study: the arrangement of photos in the lineup and the diagnosticity of the description. The results suggest that placing the target between 2 low-similarity foils increased the likelihood that he would be chosen, but only when the verbal description contained few diagnostic features. Implications for applied researchers and the construction of lineups are discussed.
