Field Dependence as a Factor in Eyewitness Accounts

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between field dependency and performance on an eyewitness task. Sixty four college students participated in the experiment. Subjects were divided into two groups, field dependent and field independent, based on their scores on the Group Embedded Figures Test ( Witkin et al., 1971 ). All the subjects viewed a series of slides depicting a wallet snatching incident and, after completing a short filler activity, filled out a thirty item questionnaire on the slides. After a two day interval, the subjects read a summary paragraph of the wallet snatching incident. This paragraph contained four pieces of erroneous information about four items in the slides. After completing another filler activity, the paragraphs were collected and a second, twenty item questionnaire on the slides was pass ed out and completed by the subjects. Amo~g the twenty items on the second questionnaire were the correct and incorrect answers to the four false pieces of information presented in the summary paragraph. It was hypothesized that the field independent subjects would have fewer errors and would be more accurate on both questionnaires about the wallet snatching incident than the field dependent subjects. It was also hypothesized that the field dependent subjects would be more open to post event sugges tion from a significant social figure than field independent subjects and would therefore incorporate more of the false information into their recall of the wallet snatching incident. Results indicate that both groups, field