Can suggestions of non-occurrence lead to claims that witnessed events did not happen?

Abstract

In three experiments, we examined whether general suggestions of non-occurrence –suggestions that experienced events did not occur– would lead participants to claim that events they witnessed never happened. Participants viewed a video depicting the investigation of a child kidnapping case and subsequently were exposed to suggestions of non-occurrence either once (Experiments 1 and 3) or three times (Experiments 2 and 3). The results provided no evidence that single suggestions of non-occurrence influenced participants’ memories or belief (Experiments 1 and 3). However, in two experiments (E2 and E3) the results provided clear evidence that repeated elaboration of suggestions of non-occurrence led participants to claim that the events they witnessed never happened. The finding that participants were influenced by repeated, but not single elaboration of suggestions of non-occurrence shows that reflective elaboration processes played an important role in leading participants to disbelieve the events they had witnessed.

Keywords:

• Denial
• misinformation
• negative misinformation
• repetition
• suggestibility
• suggestions of non-occurrence

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 This was a change in wording to one of the critical items (e.g., “the police uncovered that Chivers had been unemployed for months and had prior convictions” to “The police uncovered that Chivers had been driving a stolen vehicle since he had been unemployed for months and had prior convictions”). The addition of a filler item was to add a true detail from the video in the narrative to further draw attention away from the misleading suggestions.

2 Greenhouse-Geisser corrections are reported to correct the violation of sphericity assumption. All other analyses reported here (including Experiment 2) met the assumptions.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tanjeem Azad

Tanjeem Azad, Professor, Department of Social Sciences, Quest University Canada: My research focuses on the psychological science of human memory. How can we remember things that never happened? And how can we prevent these errors in memory? At the University of Victoria, I studied factors that compromise the accuracy of eyewitness memory, such as the influence of co-witness discussion as well as the role of fatigue on eyewitness suggestibility. As a post-doctoral researcher at Kent State University, I explored a novel line of research examining how false denials can affect people’s memories for a witnessed event.

D. Stephen Lindsay

D. Stephen Lindsay, Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Victoria: My research explores the relationship between memory, current performance, and conscious experience. Specific lines of research concern phenomena such as illusory feelings of remembering (as in déjà vu, although I've never figured out a good way to get that particular phenomenon into the lab!) and unaware uses of memory (as in involuntary plagiarism). Other projects apply theories concerning the subjective experience of remembering to practical issues such as eyewitness testimony.

Maria S. Zaragoza

Maria S. Zaragoza, Professor, Department of Psychological Sciences, Kent State University: Research interests focus on the role of misinformation in the development of false memories and false beliefs, and the mechanisms that give rise to these memory illusions. Much of our work on misinformation and false memories has been conducted in the context of laboratory studies of eyewitness suggestibility. In addition to understanding how people come to develop false memories and false beliefs, other projects focus on how best to correct misinformation (e.g., how to correct the effects of misinformation in the media, myths and misconceptions, etc.).