Effects of investigators epistemic motivation: Biased perception and sensitivity to criminal evidence

• In a first study, 50 experienced criminal investigators (Experiment 1) and 68 university students (Experiment 2) read a condensed homicide case material. Students interpreted the material differently as a function of their initial hy-pothesis regarding the case, whereas investigators made incriminating interpre-tations regardless of hypothesis. Investigators with a high (vs. low) need for cog-nitive closure (NFC) were somewhat more influenced by their initial hypothesis. In a second study of 49 experienced investigators, a witness who reported infor-mation inconsistent (vs. consistent) with investigators initial hypothesis was per-ceived as less reliable and credible. High-NFC (vs. low-NFC) participants were less influenced by the witness in their perception of the case. The studies indicate that initial beliefs regarding a crime may color the interpretation of subsequent evidence, and that epistemic motives may be an important source of belief perse-verance

Nyckelord

Criminal investigation

motivation

bias

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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