Protecting against misinformation: Evaluating the effectiveness of three techniques to reduce memory conformity
Corresponding Author
Magdalena Kękuś
Faculty of Psychology in Kraków, SWPS University, Kraków, Poland
Correspondence
Magdalena Kękuś, Institute of Psychology, SWPS University, al. Jana Pawła II 39A, Kraków 31-864, Poland.
Email: [email protected]
Contribution: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorRegina Dziubańska
Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
Contribution: Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorKacper Michalak
Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
Contribution: Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorRomuald Polczyk
Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
Contribution: Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorMalwina Szpitalak
Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
Contribution: Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorKrystian Barzykowski
Applied Memory Research Laboratory, Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
Contribution: Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Magdalena Kękuś
Faculty of Psychology in Kraków, SWPS University, Kraków, Poland
Correspondence
Magdalena Kękuś, Institute of Psychology, SWPS University, al. Jana Pawła II 39A, Kraków 31-864, Poland.
Email: [email protected]
Contribution: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorRegina Dziubańska
Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
Contribution: Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorKacper Michalak
Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
Contribution: Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorRomuald Polczyk
Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
Contribution: Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorMalwina Szpitalak
Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
Contribution: Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorKrystian Barzykowski
Applied Memory Research Laboratory, Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
Contribution: Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
The memory conformity effect occurs when people witness a given incident (e.g. a crime) then talk to each other about it, and the statement of one person affects the memory account of the other person with respect to this incident. The aim of this article is to improve the quality of witness testimony by verifying the effectiveness of three methods that aim to reduce memory conformity effect: (1) an extended warning against misinformation; (2) a method based on information about memory functioning and its fallibility and (3) a method consisting in motivating participants to resist influence and demonstrating their individual vulnerability to it. In the presented experiment, the innovative MORI technique was used to study the memory conformity effect. This technique allows a pair of participants to sit beside each other, look at the same screen and see a different version of the same criminal event. In the next stages, the subjects are asked to answer a series of questions about different details, thereby introducing mutual misinformation; then, the participants perform an individual memory test. In the experimental conditions, this test was preceded by one of the three tested methods in each group, with the aim of determining their effectiveness in reducing memory conformity. It turns out that the implementation of an extended warning against misinformation eliminated the memory conformity effect, while the application of two other methods led to a reduction (but not complete elimination) of the studied phenomenon.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Open Research
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
All relevant data will be in the article and the Supporting Information files.
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