Psychological Characteristics of Recognition as a Procedural Act of Informational Nature

The article presents the results of an experiment aimed at investigating tactical and psychological factors affecting the quality of identification. The legal equipping of the identification procedure in accordance with articles of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation is shown, the psychological essence of this procedure is described, the main factors affecting the accuracy and efficiency are presented in detail. Particular attention is paid to the following factors: intelligence level and type of locus of control of the identifier, physical situational conditions of perception, duration and frequency of object perception, emotional state of the identifier, conditions for identifying, similarity of the appearances among the members of group presented to identify, content of instruction to the witness, the sequence of presentation and quantitative criteria for composing the members of the group to identify and others. The findings from studies in foreign and domestic psychology concerning recognition as an investigative act of informational nature are presented, as well as areas in which a severe shortage of psychological research and theoretical knowledge is felt.