Principal Investigator: dr hab. Malwina Szpitalak, prof. UJ

Research project objectives / Research hypothesisThe project is connected with the psychology of witness testimony. Its aim is to expand the existentknowledge consisting one of the methods reducing the vulnerability to the memory misinformation effect(ME). In the context of forensic psychology, ME is defined as including by the witness into his/her testimonyincorrect information, stemming from sources other than the event about which the testimony is given. It isusually researched within a tree-stage paradigm, in which, e.g., the subjects first watch a video clip, aftersome time read a narrative summarizing it, in which in the experimental group some details are inconsistentwith the video, and after another time answer questions about the video. It is now very well established, bymeans of various modifications and variants of this procedure, that participants in the misled more one thanthose from the control non-misled group more often include misinformation in their memory reports aboutthe original video.One of the important research directions in the area of the misinformation effect is reducing thevulnerability to it. This is obviously important from the perspective of the applied forensic psychology, but forunderstanding the misinformation effect itself as well.

The main aim of the present project is to analyzeexperimentally the mechanisms of one of the techniques proved to reduce the vulnerability to themisinformation effect, namely, the reinforced self-affirmation (RSA). This method was designed in order toboost the self-confidence; it consists of two elements: self-affirmation (by means of asking the participants towrite down their greatest achievements in life), and manipulated positive feedback, e.g. about the results on amemory test.RSA has been repeatedly proved to reduce the misinformation effect but its mechanisms are yet unclear. Inthe present project they will be researched, mostly, but not only, by means of mediation and moderationanalyses. The most important hypothesis to be verified are:- RSA influences ME via boosted self-confidence. which in turn makes the participants to rely on their ownmemory, not on external sources;- specific positive feedback, concerning memory, is more effective in reducing ME than a general one;- direct positive feedback, concerning memory, is more effective that an indirect one, concerning attention;- from two specific direct feedback, that concerning memory combined with that activating independent Self ismore effective than both techniques separately;- RSA is more effective in the case of people with low self-esteem and high fragile self-esteem than those withstable high-self-esteem;- RSA is effective in the case of people aware of the discrepancies between the original and postevent materialsand remembering correctly the content of the original material, but not in the case of those who do notremember relevant information from the original material;- RSA is effective in the case of persons who believe in the positive feedback, not in the case of those who donot believe it.Research project methodologySeven experiments are planned. The total number of participants is estimated of about 1940. In each onethe three-stage memory misinformation procedure will be performed, as well as one of the suitable versions ofthe RSA. Also, tools for measuring self-esteem, self-confidence, and believing in the positive feedback will beapplied. Analyses of variance, mediation and moderation analyses will be the main tools for analyzing the data.Expected impact of the research project on the development of science, civilization and societyThe current project is conceived as basic research and does not offer any methods useful in practice;in real interrogations the witness cannot be made to write down his/her life achievements, let alone giving afalse positive feedback. But results of the project can help in the future to construct such methods, whichwould hopefully diminish the number of errors in human testimony, and in turh help the courts to reachbetter conclusions.