Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Date of Award

5-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.S.

Department

Psychology

Committee Chair

Joshua Foster, Ph.D.

Abstract

According to the Innocence Project, 69% of individuals exonerated by DNA evidence were initially found guilty due to an eyewitness misidentification (Innocence Project, n.d.-a). A way that investigators attempt to prevent misidentification is by assessing how confident eyewitnesses are in their identifications. There is a large body of research suggesting that these confidence estimates can, in many instances, operate as reliable barometers of accuracy. However, what if an eyewitness is overconfident? Narcissism is a personality trait characterized by overconfidence. If a narcissistic eyewitness reports confidence in their identification of a suspect, should this report be trusted? Two studies were conducted to address this question by assessing the relationship between narcissism, face memory, and accuracy in relation to eyewitness misidentification. The first study tested face-memory ability in a sample of 372 participants in which they were shown photos of a variety of faces and then were tested on their ability to remember these faces by completing several face-memory trials. The second study included a sample of 1,357 participants who were shown a video of a person committing a crime and then had to identify the culprit from a six-person photo array. In both studies, narcissistic participants exhibited greater confidence in their face-identifications despite not being more accurate than less narcissistic participants.

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