Summary The paper presents the memory conformity effect phenomenon, which assumes that information about the same event that a witness acquires from another witness (misinformation) is incorporated into the first witness' memory of the event (original information). The study has two goals: (1) to verify the existence of people with the memory conformity effect who are aware of discrepancy between original information and misinformation; (2) to determine why they choose misinformation despite the correctness of their own memories. In addition, we examine the relationship between susceptibility to social influence, compliance, suggestibility and memory conformity. Importantly, these relationships will be analyzed in interaction with awareness of discrepancy, which has not yet been examined in previous studies. More precisely, we will apply a new research approach to further investigate the causes of memory conformity. To this end, we will specifically analyze participants' awareness of discrepancies between the details of an observed event and the misinformation presented by another witness. In order to examine the memory conformity effect, we will use the MORI technique, which ensures high ecological validity. The two members of each pair of participants will sit next to each other and each will not be aware that the other watched a different version of the same event. Then, the participants will answer related questions and discuss the contradictory details. Subsequently, the subjects will complete an individual recognition test. Importantly, after the main part of the study (i.e., the MORI procedure), participants will be explicitly informed about the different versions of the event and they will be asked to complete awareness of discrepancy questionnaires. This will allow us to further examine the driving forces underlying the memory conformity effect. We expect the study's results to expand the knowledge on the mechanisms and determinants of the strength of the memory conformity effect and to contribute to the development of effective techniques that reduce the effect of this phenomenon.

Summary The manuscript describes an experimental investigation of one possible technique that may reduce memory conformity: the reinforced self‐affirmation procedure (RSA). While previous studies have already demonstrated the RSA's effectiveness in reducing other memory distortions (e.g., the misinformation effect and interrogative suggestibility), this has not been tested in the context of the co‐witness memory conformity effect. To this end, we will utilize the well‐known MORI technique to study co‐witness memory conformity under well‐controlled experimental conditions. While viewing different versions of the same movie, pairs of participants will sit beside each other, believing that they are viewing the same version. Next, they will answer questions collaboratively, which will guide them to discuss conflicting details. Finally, participants will take a recognition test individually, but in the experimental condition, this will be proceeded by the RSA procedure, which is expected to be an effective way of eliminating the effect of memory conformity. If reinforcing one's own confidence reduces the plausible memory conformity effect, it may be then argued that the mechanism underlying this phenomenon is the participants' lack of confidence relating to quality of their memory. As argued in the present paper, these results will open up a set of interesting questions for future research.

The manuscript describes an experimental investigation of a technique that might reduce memory conformity: the reinforced self-affirmation procedure (RSA). While previous studies have already demonstrated the RSA's effectiveness in reducing other memory distortions (e.g., the misinformation effect and interrogative suggestibility), this has not been tested in the context of the co-witness memory conformity effect. To this end, we utilized the well-known MORI technique to study co-witness memory conformity under well-controlled experimental conditions. While viewing different versions of the same movie, pairs of participants were sat beside each other, believing that they were viewing the same version. Next, they answered figurs collaboratively, which guided them to discuss conflicting details. Finally, participants individually took a recognition test, but in the experimental condition this was preceded by the RSA procedure, which was expected to be an effective way of eliminating the effect of memory conformity. Unexpectedly, this assumption was not confirmed. This result is further discussed.