University of Trier, Germany
Previous research has shown that individuals tend to rely on information that is provided by others when they feel uncertain about their own memories. This is because other peoples’ judgments are one source of information about the world “out there” that helps the individual to reduce uncertainty. Based on previous research on memory conformity effects (Walther et al., 2001), the present work investigated the influence of surprise, attributional focus and metacognitive knowledge on individuals’ memory reports. It is assumed that the surprising violation of an expectation often inherent in the observation of a criminal act increases the need to explain the event which in turn enhances social influence. The results of an experimental study indicated that surprise and attributional focus enhanced social influence only if the stimulus was not judged to be particularly memorable.
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