Altruistic Lying in an Alibi Corroboration Context: The Effects of Liking, Compliance, and Relationship between Suspects and Witnesses

Abstract

Police investigators, judges, and jurors are often very skeptical of alibi witness testimony. To investigate when and why individuals lie for one another, we conducted two studies in which witnesses' support of a false alibi was observed. We varied the level of social pressure exerted on witnesses and the level of affinity between suspect-witness pairs. During a study session purportedly intended to investigate dyadic problem-solving ability, a mock theft was staged. When questioned, participants were provided the opportunity to either corroborate or refute a confederate's false alibi that the latter was with them when the theft occurred. Participants were more likely to lie for the confederate when the latter explicitly asked participants to conceal his/her whereabouts during the time of the theft (Study 1). How much participants liked the suspect did not impact lying; however, participants lied for a confederate more often when the latter was a friend rather than a stranger (Study 2). Results show that alibi witnesses often lie and that investigators and jurors may not accurately estimate the likelihood that such witnesses will lie for one another. Witnesses who lied also reported doing so more often because they believed that the suspect was innocent rather than guilty. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

“But I Wasn’t There!”

“…Hosch et al (2011) found that participants were more likely to believe an alibi witness when that witness was unrelated versus related to the defendant (also see Eastwood et al, 2016;. Furthermore, Marion and Burke (2017) found evidence that alibi witnesses were more willing to corroborate a known false alibi for a friend than for a stranger, offering further support for Olson and Wells' taxonomy.…”

Alibi believability: Corroborator certainty, cooperativeness and relationship with the defendant

“…One lab study confirmed that in fact people are more likely to lie for friends than strangers. In this study, participants had the opportunity to lie about an alibi for either a friend or stranger (Marion & Burke, 2017). Participants were much more likely to lie and say they were with the other participant when that person was a friend rather than a stranger.…”

“…Participants were much more likely to lie and say they were with the other participant when that person was a friend rather than a stranger. The participants stated that they liked their friends and trusted that they had not stolen the missing money from the lab when they were suspected of doing so (Marion & Burke, 2017). Thus, altruism and liking can explain why people help friends and family more often than strangers, and why judges, jurors and police officers are sceptical of alibi evidence from these sources.…”