Social influence on eyewitness memory

This chapter mainly focuses on the influence exerted by other witnesses – so-called &s;co-witness influence&s;. It also focuses on children&s;s memory and reviews a number of sources that moderate social influence, and discusses different memory errors that may follow. The chapter turns to some of the factors that appear to regulate the social influence on adults&s; memory reports. It provides empirical evidence showing that the memory of an eyewitness is very sensitive to the views of others having witnessed the same event. The chapter shows that it is warranted to add a &s;social dimension&s; to the more cognitive inspired model presented by Ira Hyman and Elizabeth Loftus. The main conclusions to draw from these studies are that children are more vulnerable to leading questions than adults, and that pre-school-aged children are more sensitive to suggestions than are school-aged children. The most common form is an omission error that is when information is left out of a memory report.