Does Need for Cognition Moderate the Relationship Between Eyewitness Age and Perceived Credibility

The relationship between age and perceived credibility was examined, particularly whether or not middle-aged witnesses were perceived as more credible than older eyewitnesses. Additionally, I was interested in whether or not the relationship between age and credibility was moderated by need for cognition. Participants read a trial transcript about a child pedestrian-car accident wherein a defendant was charged with manslaughter. The sole eyewitness, either a 49 or 79 year-old male, testified that the child hit his head on a rock upon stepping off the curb before being struck by the defendant’s vehicle. Transcripts included direct and cross-examination with half accompanied by the eyewitness’ photo. Participants rated witness credibility on nine dimensions including competence, honesty, and suggestibility, then rendered a verdict. Participants completed the Need for Cognition Scale and a questionnaire measuring attitudes towards punishment. There was a significant three-way interaction between age, information type, and need for cognition on perceived credibility ratings. Perceived credibility ratings were positively correlated with judgments of guilt. Results are discussed in terms of their implications within the criminal justice system. AGE AND PERCEIVED CREDIBILITY Does Need for Cognition Moderate the Relationship Between Eyewitness Age and Perceived Credibility? When a witness takes the stand, the way in which he or she is perceived may influence the outcome of a case. Whether or not jurors trust a witness and think of him or her as believable, confident, and honest is of great importance, and can impact the fate of individuals who are on trial. Several factors can influence the way in which witnesses are perceived including the strength of the witness’ testimony, witness’ behavior, and even witness’ attributes such as age, race, and gender. Are characteristics such as age, race and gender really important, and if so why do they matter? Are older adults actually different than younger adults in their competence, accuracy, and suggestibility? Or are older adult witnesses viewed as less credible simply because of their age? These are all questions researchers over the last 25 years have been trying to answer as they have explored the influence age has on perceived credibility of older eyewitnesses. Why have researchers been so interested in questions such as these that involve issues of age and credibility? This interest may be due to the rise in the elderly population in the United States over the last few decades. The United States Census Bureau has projected that by the year 2050 approximately 20% of the United States population will consist of persons aged 65 years and older. With “baby boomers” currently entering into older adulthood, the increase in the elder population will reach the fastest rate of growth to date, even though this growth has been on the rise since the 19th century (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011). Such population changes may be accompanied by a greater likelihood that older adults will be exposed to crimes and events more often, and therefore, may become victims of and or witnesses to crimes in greater numbers in the coming years. Therefore, it is extremely important that we know and understand AGE AND PERCEIVED CREDIBILITY 2 how the general public, as possible jurors, react to an older eyewitness, and more specifically how individuals perceive the credibility of older eyewitnesses. A number of researchers have studied the relationship between age and perceived credibility. Researchers have measured the perceived credibility of child, young adult, middleaged adult, and older adult witnesses in order to examine the depths of the relationship between a witness’ age and how credible he or she is perceived (Mueller-Johnson, Toglia, Sweeney, & Ceci, 2007; Ross, Dunning, Toglia, & Ceci, 1990). Although there is not an abundance of credibility research studies, one thing is clear, the results have revealed a mixture of both negative and positive stereotypes held towards the elderly. A number of researchers found that as the age of a witness increases, perceived credibility decreases, and that older adults are regarded as less credible than younger witnesses (Kwong See, Hoffman, & Wood, 2001; Mueller-Johnson, Toglia, Sweeney, O’Connell, 2009; Ross et al., 1990), whereas others have found that the elderly are perceived as equally, if not more credible than younger adults, and are generally positively rated (Brimacombe, Quinton, Nance, & Garrioch, 1997; Mueller-Johnson et al., 2007; Narayan, 2008; Ross et al., 1990; Yarmey, 1984). Among the several studies that have revealed lower credibility ratings among older adults is that of Kwong See et al. (2001). The authors found that the testimony of an 82 year-old was viewed as less accurate and believable than that of a younger adult (aged 28 years), and older witnesses were rated as less competent as well. However, in their study, sex of the witness was held constant as all witnesses were described as being female. Sex differences in perceived credibility among older adults were also found by Mueller-Johnson et al. (2009). These authors presented photos of different aged witnesses (ages 69, 79, and 89 years) and asked participants to rate each witness’ credibility. The older the eyewitness the lower the credibility ratings, AGE AND PERCEIVED CREDIBILITY 3 however, these differences were influenced by the sex of the witness as well. Older females were rated less positively than older males on most dimensions of credibility, such as accuracy, competence, and cognitive functioning. This may have occurred, because it was discovered that males were perceived as younger than their actual age, whereas, females were perceived as older than their actual age. It is reasonable to believe that perceived age influences perceived credibility, maybe more so than actual age, which will be discussed later. Sex differences tend to remain despite the type of information that is presented (either a photo alone or a photo presented along with a witness’ statement via a court transcript). In their second study, Mueller-Johnson et al. (2009) again presented eyewitnesses’ photos but presented them simultaneously with a written statement (fictitious) belonging to the eyewitness. Older eyewitnesses were perceived as more credible than they were in the first study when a photo was shown alone. In addition, males were perceived as more credible than females. It was suggested that when photos were presented alone, judgments tended to be more stereotypically motivated than when relevant information in a transcript was presented as well. The authors explained that, “Often an impression about a person is formed in the first seconds/minutes of an interaction. This impression may very well be influenced by stereotypes such as ageism” (Mueller-Johnson et al., 2009). Although the elderly are at times viewed as less credible, this is not always the case, as researchers have found that older adults are at times rated as more credible than younger adults in some aspects of credibility such as, competence, accuracy, honesty, and suggestibility. Credibility has usually been defined by several dimensions including: witness competence, confidence, convincingness, accuracy, honesty, witness’ observation of the event, memory for the event, witness’ level of cognitive functioning, and witness suggestibility. Mueller-Johnson et AGE AND PERCEIVED CREDIBILITY 4 al. (2007) presented trial transcripts that included testimony of the sole eyewitness, crossexamination of the witness, and the direct examination of the witness to participants. The case presented in the transcripts involved a child pedestrian-car accident wherein a defendant was charged with manslaughter. The sole eyewitness, described as 49, 69, 79, or 89 years of age, testified that the child hit his head on a rock upon stepping off the curb before being struck by the defendant’s vehicle. Young adult participants rated the 49 year-old and 69 year-old male and female witnesses similarly, however, 79 year-old male was rated as more credible than the younger 49 year-old male witness. The older male witness was viewed as more convincing, accurate, honest and confident than the middle-aged witness. Moreover, the 89 year-old male witness was rated as more accurate, confident, and convincing as compared to the 49 year-old male. All older adult witnesses were rated as more honest than younger adult witnesses as well. Brimacombe et al. (1997) presented various testimonies of different aged witnesses that differed also in testimonial quality. Participants read the testimony of either a younger or older adult (ages 20 and 70, respectively) that was low, medium, or high in terms of credibility. The authors manipulated the testimony strength in order to determine if credibility ratings were influenced by age alone. Participants rated the witnesses’ credibility after reading the testimonies, and as a result, those in the high credibility conditions rated both the young and old witness as more credible than those in the low credibility conditions. Furthermore, a number of participants were told that the testimony was that of a 20, 35, or 70 year-old witness, and the credibility ratings did not differ as a function of age. These findings contradict those of Kwong See et al. (2001), Mueller-Johnson et al., 2009, and others that have found that old age has a negative influence on the perceived credibility of eyewitnesses. AGE AND PERCEIVED CREDIBILITY 5 In her 2008 study, Narayan also found that the elderly are not always viewed negatively. She asked young adult participants to complete the Aging Semantic Differential, an assessment designed to measure attitudes towards elders. She found that overall, younger adults did not view the elderly negatively, and that older adults were even viewed more positively than younger adults on measures such as, kindness,