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Can clarifying instructions mitigate the effects of multifaceted questions on susceptibility to suggestion?

Can clarifying instructions mitigate the effects of multifaceted questions on susceptibility to... When cross‐examining witnesses, lawyers will sometimes use complex questions to “trip‐up” witnesses and thus cast doubt on their testimony. Extending prior research, the present study showed that multifaceted test questions (which contain both a true and false proposition) reduced accuracy for both misled and control participants but had a disproportionate impact on the former. Although misled participants accurately rejected blatant suggestions when tested with simple questions, there was a two‐fold increase in false assents when multifaceted questions were used (Experiment 1). Providing participants with explicit instructions on how to respond to multifaceted questions (i.e., respond “yes” only if all parts of the question are true) improved accuracy slightly but did not mitigate the magnitude of the misinformation effect (Experiment 2). Collectively, the results underscore the importance of assessing eyewitness suggestibility in contexts that mimic those witnesses are likely to encounter in the real world. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Applied Cognitive Psychology Wiley

Can clarifying instructions mitigate the effects of multifaceted questions on susceptibility to suggestion?

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References (29)

Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
© 2021 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ISSN
0888-4080
eISSN
1099-0720
DOI
10.1002/acp.3883
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

When cross‐examining witnesses, lawyers will sometimes use complex questions to “trip‐up” witnesses and thus cast doubt on their testimony. Extending prior research, the present study showed that multifaceted test questions (which contain both a true and false proposition) reduced accuracy for both misled and control participants but had a disproportionate impact on the former. Although misled participants accurately rejected blatant suggestions when tested with simple questions, there was a two‐fold increase in false assents when multifaceted questions were used (Experiment 1). Providing participants with explicit instructions on how to respond to multifaceted questions (i.e., respond “yes” only if all parts of the question are true) improved accuracy slightly but did not mitigate the magnitude of the misinformation effect (Experiment 2). Collectively, the results underscore the importance of assessing eyewitness suggestibility in contexts that mimic those witnesses are likely to encounter in the real world.

Journal

Applied Cognitive PsychologyWiley

Published: Nov 1, 2021

Keywords: complex questions; eyewitness testimony; false memory

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