The effect of volition and memory distrust on eyewitness suggestiblity

Purpose Post-event information (PEI) may distort eyewitness memory and lead to erroneous eyewitness testimonies. This paper aims to explore whether factors such as volitional engagement with PEI (e.g. choice to engage with a co-witness) and memory distrust influence misinformation acceptance and the perceived credibility of a co-witness. Design/methodology/approach Participants (n = 223) completed the Memory Distrust Scale and then watched a short mock crime video. Thereafter, two-thirds of the participants were asked whether they would prefer or not to listen to a co-witness’ account of the witnessed event (choice condition), and one-third of the participants did not have the choice (control condition). Every participant listened to the co-witness account (which contained items of misinformation); thus, those who preferred to listen to the testimony were in the choice-yes (i.e., volition) condition and those who preferred not to listen were in the choice-no (i.e., non-volition) condition. Finally, participants completed a cued recall task assessing their memory of the video and acceptance of misinformation. They also provided ratings to establish the perceived credibility of the co-witness. Findings The results indicated that neither volition nor memory distrust influenced misinformation acceptance. However, those who preferred to listen to the testimony (i.e., the choice-yes condition) perceived the co-witness as more credible than those in the choice-no or control conditions. Practical implications The findings suggest that witnesses are susceptible to misinformation regardless of their willingness to engage with or avoid PEI. Further implications and future research directions are discussed. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to investigate the role of volition and memory distrust as a trait in eyewitnesses tendency to engage with or avoid post-event information. The research explores whether these mechanisms impact upon memory conformity and perceived co-witness credibility.