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Individual differences in eyewitness memory: The role of anxiety depression, and personality in memory for emotional events

Resource type
Thesis type
(Thesis) M.A.
Date created
2012-08-17
Authors/Contributors
Abstract
The ability of witnesses of a criminal event to accurately recall what they have seen may be affected by various factors. This study explored whether individual differences such as anxiety, depression, and the Big Five personality traits were associated with memory accuracy for witnessed events. Participants were 211 undergraduates who watched videos varying in emotional valence (negative or neutral), completed measures of anxiety (STAI), depression (BDI-II), and personality traits (BFI) and then were asked to recall details from the videos. Results indicated that some individual differences variables, such as anxiety, conscientiousness, and neuroticism do have an association with memory accuracy. Research examining individual differences' association with memory accuracy may provide useful information to judges, juries, and investigators who are attempting to decide whether or not an eyewitness is credible.
Document
Identifier
etd7406
Copyright statement
Copyright is held by the author.
Permissions
The author granted permission for the file to be printed, but not for the text to be copied and pasted.
Scholarly level
Supervisor or Senior Supervisor
Thesis advisor: Read, John Donald
Member of collection
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