Disinformation effect in human identification

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Abstract

The article presents the results of an experimental study of psychological errors which occur when a person performing identification has been told false identification features before the actual procedure. We have revealed the mechanisms of disinformation effect: the generalization of working memory representations and involuntary mental information adding. Previous studies of the phenomenon of misinformation focused on the study of unintentional memorization, in the process of which the mechanism of an external implanted facility (misinformation) was introduced. In the experiments of other scientists, it was not possible to preset memorizing the elements of the event or the appearance of the subjects. It is shown that a preliminary instruction to memorize the features of an object does not reduce the disinformation effect. At the same time, a prior memorizing instruction can block the influence of gender, age and professional attitudes, but it does not block the subjective attitudes of a particular person. It was shown that reproducing facts some time later is not the main cause of identification errors.

General Information

Keywords: external signs of a person, recognition, identification errors, false instructions, working memory, disinformation effect.

Journal rubric: Forensic and Clinical Psychology in Legal Context

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/psylaw.2018080410

For citation: Budyakova T.P. Disinformation effect in human identification [Elektronnyi resurs]. Psikhologiya i pravo = Psychology and Law, 2018. Vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 99–114. DOI: 10.17759/psylaw.2018080410. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

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Information About the Authors

Tatiana P. Budyakova, PhD in Psychology, Docent, Professor, Department of Pedagogy & Educational Technologies, Institute of Psychology & Pedagogy, Bunin Yelets State University, Yelets, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1739-837X, e-mail: budyakovaelez@mail.ru

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