The Psychology of Alibis

Charman, Steve D.; Matuku, Kureva; Mosser, Alexandra

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-11042-0_2

Cited by 13 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 65 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It is particularly telling that participants did not report at higher rates having "remembered" -rather than merely having "known" -that schema-consistent (rather than schema-inconsistent) events had occurred. Of course, given that, by definition, schemas represent routine events, schema-based responding should typically lead to alibis that are broadly accurate (Charman, Matuku, & Mosser, 2019). However, as noted earlier, such alibis may contain fewer discrete event details which in the context of a criminal investigation could improve both the access and quality of obtained corroborating evidence.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although research has examined perceptions of inconsistent alibis (e.g., Allison & Brimacombe, 2010;Burke et al, 2007;Olson & Wells, 2012), little effort has been directed towards the discovery and mitigation of the social and cognitive factors causing these inconsistencies (see Charman, Matuku, & Mosser, 2019). Of the handful of studies that have asked participants to generate alibis, three did not assess accuracy (Allison, Michael, Matthews, & Overman, 2011;Culhane, Hosch, & Kenn, 2008;Olson & Wells, 2012), and two others used alibi statement consistency across repeated retellings as a proxy for alibi accuracy (Olson & Charman, 2012;Strange, Dysart, & Loftus, 2014).…”

Section: Elicitationmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Right place, wrong time: the limitations of mental reinstatement of context on alibi-elicitation

Cardenas

Crozier

Strange

2020

Psychology, Crime & Law

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although research has focused on how inconsistencies in alibi statements are perceived by law enforcement and legal decision-makers, less attention has been paid to the cognitive factors that may mitigate such inconsistencies. Using a novel, ecologically-valid paradigm, across two experiments (507 events for N=134), we examined the accuracy, level of detail, and memory characteristics of participant-generated alibis for schema-consistent and-inconsistent events, and whether mental reinstatement of context (MRC) led to improved alibis compared to time-cueing. Participants reported their typical weekly activities, provided real-time reports of their activities during a two-week period, and reported participant-specific schema-consistent and-inconsistent events using time-cues and MRC. Our results suggest schema-consistent events are reported more accurately than inconsistent events, and that MRC does not improve alibi accuracy over timecueing. When reporting atypical events, participants provided alibis by reporting what they thought they would normally be doing during that time. Together, these findings quantify how difficult remembering an alibi can be, reinforce that people often rely on schemas, and that mnemonic strategies to increase alibi accuracy are likely to fail, even if they work in other domains. We discuss how the current research adds to recent work on boundary conditions for the efficacy of MRC.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Elicitationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Right place, wrong time: the limitations of mental reinstatement of context on alibi-elicitation

Cardenas

Crozier

Strange

2020

Psychology, Crime & Law

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…No. Merely learning—days later—that a seemingly ordinary experience is now significant rarely helps people remember more about it (Charman et al, 2019).…”

Section: An Overview Of Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Contact Tracing: A Memory Task With Consequences for Public Health

Garry

Hope

Zajac

et al. 2020

Perspect Psychol Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the battle for control of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), we have few weapons. Yet contact tracing is among the most powerful. Contact tracing is the process by which public-health officials identify people, or contacts, who have been exposed to a person infected with a pathogen or another hazard. For all its power, though, contact tracing yields a variable level of success. One reason is that contact tracing’s ability to break the chain of transmission is only as effective as the proportion of contacts who are actually traced. In part, this proportion turns on the quality of the information that infected people provide, which makes human memory a crucial part of the efficacy of contact tracing. Yet the fallibilities of memory, and the challenges associated with gathering reliable information from memory, have been grossly underestimated by those charged with gathering it. We review the research on witnesses and investigative interviewing, identifying interrelated challenges that parallel those in contact tracing, as well as approaches for addressing those challenges.

show abstract

“…Alibi research to date has been largely atheoretical, dealing with applied issues of memory (alibi generation) and credibility (alibi assessment). One theoretical model of alibi generation developed recently is the schema disconfirmation model (Charman et al, 2019). This model posits a two-part process for innocent alibi providers: First, they engage in a search for the requested autobiographical memory.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…"I remember being in class") as opposed to educated guesses (e.g. "I must have been in class"; which may result in superficially or "accidentally" accurate alibis; see Charman et al, 2019) remains unclear.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“That’s the way my Wednesdays always go”: reverse-order instructions insufficient to mitigate schema-consistent errors in alibi generation

Eastwood

Snow

Freedman

2021

JFP

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose The purpose of this study was to assess the ability of innocent suspects to produce accurate alibis, as well as to identify procedures police interviewers can use to increase the probability of generating accurate alibis. Design/methodology/approach In Study 1, 54 university students had a lecture (target event) end at either the normal time (schema group) or 25 min early (non-schema group) and then attempted to generate an alibi for the target event after either a short, moderate or long delay. In Study 2, 20 students had a lecture end 25 min early and underwent an interview regarding their whereabouts using a reverse-order interview technique designed to disrupt schema usage. Findings Results from Study 1 suggested that participants relied on schemas to generate their alibis, which led to false alibis for the non-schema group, and this reliance was more pronounced as the delay between event and recall increased. In Study 2, all but one participant produced a false alibi, suggesting reverse order is ineffective in increasing accurate recall in alibi situations. Practical implications Results from the two studies revealed that people can produce false alibis easily in mock police interviews – a finding that appears to result from the reliance on schemas. These findings highlight the relative ease with which innocent individuals can produce false alibis. Further research, specific to the alibi generation process, is needed to give police interviewers the tools to produce more accurate and detailed alibis. Originality/value This research provides additional evidence regarding the role of schemas in alibi generation. Contrary to findings from the eyewitness area, reverse-order instructions failed to disrupt schema reliance and do not appear to be an effective alibi-elicitation technique.

show abstract

The Psychology of Alibis

Cited by 13 publications

References 65 publications

Right place, wrong time: the limitations of mental reinstatement of context on alibi-elicitation

Right place, wrong time: the limitations of mental reinstatement of context on alibi-elicitation

Contact Tracing: A Memory Task With Consequences for Public Health

“That’s the way my Wednesdays always go”: reverse-order instructions insufficient to mitigate schema-consistent errors in alibi generation

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About