"Once upon a crime”: Young and older adult eyewitnesses' use of narrative in testimony
Date
2002
Authors
Allison, Meredith
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Abstract
This thesis examines differences in the manner in which older and young adult witnesses present information about a crime and whether these differences affect assessments of the witnesses' credibility. Older and young adult witnesses' crime recollections were analyzed to determine whether some witnesses organize their testimonies in a more cohesive, narrative-like fashion than others, especially as a function of age. First, an operational definition of the features of narrative was formulated. Two independent raters analyzed the testimonies to assess their narrative features. Inter-rater reliability analyses indicated that the operational definition was reliable. Then, two principal components analyses examined how the narrative features were related to one another. Finally, University students acting as mock jurors assessed the witnesses' credibility. Older adults were more likely than young adults to use several narrative features in recounting the crime they witnessed. Witnesses who used few Sequencing features and Elaborations were perceived as most credible. Implications for future research in aging and narrative are discussed.