An illusion of objectivity in workplace investigation: The cause analysis chart and consistency, accuracy, and bias in judgments

INTRODUCTION

Investigation tools used in occupational health and safety events need to support evidence-based judgments, especially when employed within biasing contexts, yet these tools are rarely empirically vetted. A common workplace investigation tool, dubbed for this study the "Cause Analysis (CA) Chart," is a checklist on which investigators select substandard actions and conditions that apparently contributed to a workplace event. This research tests whether the CA Chart supports quality investigative judgments.

METHOD

Professional and undergraduate participants engaged in a simulated industrial investigation exercise after receiving a file with information indicating that either a worker had an unsafe history, equipment had an unsafe history, or neither had a history of unsafe behavior (control). Participants then navigated an evidence database and used either the CA Chart or an open-ended form to make judgments about event cause.

RESULTS

The use of the CA Chart negatively affected participants' information seeking and judgments. Participants using the CA Chart were less accurate in identifying the causes of the incident and were biased to report that the worker was more causal for the event. Professionals who used the CA Chart explored fewer pieces of evidence than those in the open-ended condition. Moreover, neither the open-ended form nor the structured CA Chart mitigated the biasing effects of historical information about safety on participants' judgments.

CONCLUSION

Use of the CA Chart resulted in judgments about event cause that were less accurate and also biased towards worker responsibility. The CA Chart was not an effective debiasing tool. Practical application: Our results have implications for occupational health and safety given the popular nature of checklist tools like the CA Chart in workplace investigation. This study contributes to the literature stating that we need to be scientific in the development of investigative tools and methods.

Availability of Faces and Names in Recall

The ease of recalling a name given an individual's photograph or an image of a face given an individual's name was compared in two studies. Significantly more correct recalls of faces than names were reported; however, the numbers of reported states of partial recall varied both as a function of visual familiarity and experimental conditions. The results were interpreted in terms of the importance of access to the verbal-symbolic memory system for recall of either the face or the name at low levels of visual familiarity.

Variations in Severity of Verbs and Eyewitnesses' Testimony: An Alternative Interpretation

96 subjects viewed three different videotaped sequences and then received testimony questions which manipulated the rated severity of verbs used to describe each event. The effects of such questioning on the recall of the events were evaluated after both short- and long-retention intervals. In contrast to the Loftus and Palmer hypothesis no effects of severity of verbs on the subjects' thematic interpretations of the event were obtained. Previously reported effects of severity of verbs on subjects' recall of an event were interpreted as representing changes at the verbal-associational or semantic level rather than at the conceptual or thematic level within memory.

Accuracy and Confidence in Person Identification: The Relationship Is Strong When Witnessing Conditions Vary Widely

We hypothesized that both accuracy and confidence in suspect identifications depend, in part, on participants' ability to identify the target, and that both accuracy and confidence therefore tend to be higher under conditions that lead to good memory for the target than under conditions that lead to poor memory for the target. Furthermore, we hypothesized that a substantial correlation between accuracy and confidence will be observed if, because of variations in conditions, there is considerable variability across participants in ability to identify the target. Consistent with these hypotheses, manipulations that affected accuracy also affected confidence in the same direction, and when data were collapsed across conditions, the accuracy-confidence correlation was substantial (mean r = .59).

True Photographs and False Memories

Some trauma-memory-oriented psychotherapists advise clients to review old family photo albums to cue suspected “repressed” memories of childhood sexual abuse. Old photos might cue long-forgotten memories, but when combined with other suggestive influences they might also contribute to false memories. We asked 45 undergraduates to work at remembering three school-related childhood events (two true events provided by parents and one pseudoevent). By random assignment, 23 subjects were also given their school classes' group photos from the years of the to-be-recalled events as memory cues. As predicted, the rate of false-memory reports was dramatically higher in the photo condition than in the no-photo condition. Indeed, the rate of false-memory reports in the photo condition was substantially higher than the rate in any previously published study.

Expert testimony on eyewitness evidence: in search of common sense

Surveys on knowledge of eyewitness issues typically indicate that legal professionals and jurors alike can be insensitive to factors that are detrimental to eyewitness accuracy. One aim of the current research was to assess the extent to which judges, an under-represented sample in the extant literature, are aware of factors that may undermine the accuracy and reliability of eyewitness evidence (Study 1). We also sought to assess the knowledge of a jury-eligible sample of the general public (drawn from the same population as the judges) and compared responses from a multiple choice survey with a scenario-based, response-generation survey in order to investigate whether questionnaire format alters the accuracy of responses provided (Study 2). Overall, judges demonstrated a reasonable level of knowledge regarding general eyewitness memory issues. Further, the jury-eligible general public respondents completing a multiple choice format survey produced more responses consistent with experts than did participants who were required to generate their own responses. The results are discussed in terms of the future training requirements for legal professionals and the ability of jurors to apply the knowledge they have to the legal context.

After 30 years, what do we know about what jurors know? A meta-analytic review of lay knowledge regarding eyewitness factors

Surveys typically characterize lay knowledge of eyewitness factors as low and highly variable. However, there are notable differences across methodologies, samples, and individual factors. To examine these differences systematically, we took a meta-analytic approach to reviewing the findings of 23 surveys assessing lay knowledge of eyewitness issues. Our analyses examined the beliefs of 4,669 respondents. Overall, respondents correctly agreed with survey items approximately two-thirds of the time. Results revealed significant differences in performance as a function of variable type, question format, and over time. We found few differences as a function of sample type, publication status, or jurisdiction. Although performance varied, a majority of lay respondents achieved "correct" consensus for as many as 11 of the 16 items included in this review.

Memory for committing a crime: effects of arousal, proximity, and gender

Few researchers have investigated the memories of active participants in an emotionally arousing crime. The present study used a mock crime paradigm to explore participant memories for a low, moderate, or highly arousing event. Forty-seven undergraduate participants committed a "theft" of an exam from a professor's office. Two weeks after the theft, participants completed a cognitive interview, recalled objects from the professor's office, and constructed a map of the route to and from the crime room. Arousal improved reports on a map recall task but no other recall indices. Although there was a general superiority of recall of proximal over distal details, arousal only infrequently interacted with proximity. Some support was found for proximity (spatial-temporal distinction) as a useful proxy for centrality. Future work will benefit from an examination of the overlap between definitions of centrality and proximity with more traditional stimuli.

Effects of prior knowledge and expert statement on belief in recovered memories: an international perspective

We tested the hypothesis that beliefs in the purported attributes of recovered memories of child sexual abuse (CSA) are associated with knowledge of the "recovered/false memory debate", and that such beliefs will be related to assessments of the credibility of statements made by participants in a vignette about CSA. Participants from five countries (the United States, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Israel) responded to a questionnaire regarding beliefs about recovered memory as well as self-reported exposure to and knowledge of the debate. In addition, they assessed the credibility of statements made by a daughter (reporting recovery of memories of sexual abuse by her father), her father (denying the allegation and accusing the daughter's therapist of implanting in her false "memories" of abuse), and two experts (each supporting one of the two protagonists). We found that prior knowledge of the debate across countries was linked to beliefs in specific attributes of recovered memories and to a subset of the credibility assessments of statements made by the protagonists and their experts. For individuals, however, credibility assessments were unrelated to knowledge of the debate, but they were related to beliefs about memory recovery. Finally, credibility of the protagonists' statements was differentially associated with those made by the daughter's and the father's experts. The results suggest that whereas familiarity with the debate does not affect the credibility of the statements made by the complainant and the accused, expert testimony does, as has been found in prior research. The psycholegal implications of this conclusion are discussed.

Emotional arousal and memory: a test of the poststimulus processing hypothesis

Emotional arousal is believed to enhance memory for details central to an episode but impair memory for peripheral details. However, new research suggests that arousal induced thematically (i.e., through involvement with an unfolding event) produces only memory enhancements. This article examines whether consciously controlled elaborative processing in the aftermath of an arousing experience is responsible. A dual task manipulation was used to prevent participants from ruminating over a video that depicted an abduction and attack. Several indices of recall showed greater memory for emotional event details than for details from a neutral control video, which remained the case when the opportunity for post-stimulus elaboration was prevented. Thus, superior retention of the content of emotional experiences may arise from the way in which arousal is induced rather than through immediate postevent cognitions.

Delayed prosecutions of historic child sexual abuse: analyses of 2064 Canadian criminal complaints

Recently, in many English-speaking countries, legal principles that had the effect of barring delayed criminal prosecutions have been abrogated. In these jurisdictions, criminal prosecutions of child sexual abuse that is alleged to have occurred in the distant past (historic child sexual abuse or HCSA) are a growing legal challenge. These cases raise myriad issues relevant to research and the development of public policy that would benefit from a considered exchange of ideas that is informed by a clear understanding of the phenomenon. Based on 2064 judicial decisions of Canadian criminal complaints of HCSA we describe the trial, the complainant, the accused, and the offence. In the context of these legal cases, we raise some of the germane issues as well as suggestions for future research and discussion that we believe are particularly current and pressing.

An archival analysis of actual cases of historic child sexual abuse: A comparison of jury and bench trials

Logistic regression analyses were used to predict verdicts from 466 Canadian jury and 644 Canadian judge-alone criminal trials involving delayed or historic allegations of child sexual abuse. Variables in regard to the complainant and offence were selected from the legal, clinical, and experimental literatures, including mock juror research. Of six variables that had been related to decisions reached in mock juror research concerning delayed allegations of child sexual abuse (i.e., repressed memory testimony, involvement in therapy, length of delay, age of complainant, presence of experts, and frequency of abuse) two (age of complainant and presence of expert) predicted verdicts. An additional five variables (duration, severity, complainant-accused relationship, threats, and complainant gender) were also examined: of these, threats and the complainant-accused relationship reliably predicted jury verdicts. For judge-alone trials, five variables predicted verdict: length of the delay, offence severity, claims of repression, the relationship between complainant and accused, and presence of an expert. Implications of the jurors' and judges' differential sensitivity to these variables for future simulation and archival research are discussed.

Adults' memories of childhood: Affect, knowing, and remembering

Adult questionnaire respondents reported, for each of a number of events, if they had experienced that event during childhood and, if so, if they remembered the experience or merely knew it had happened. Respondents also rated the emotion of each event and judged whether they would remember more about each reportedly experienced event if they spent more time trying to do so. Study 1 respondents were 96 undergraduates, whereas Study 2 tested 93 community members ranging widely in age. Respondents often reported no recollections of reportedly experienced events. Reportedly experienced events rated as emotional were more often recollected than those rated as neutral, and those rated as positive were more often recollected than those rated as negative. Predicted ability to remember more was related to current memory. Claims of remembering reportedly experienced events increased with age, but predicted ability to remember more about them declined with age.

A picture is worth a thousand lies: using false photographs to create false childhood memories

Because image-enhancing technology is readily available, people are frequently exposed to doctored images. However, in prior research on how adults can be led to report false childhood memories, subjects have typically been exposed to personalized and detailed narratives describing false events. Instead, we exposed 20 subjects to a false childhood event via a fake photograph and imagery instructions. Over three interviews, subjects thought about a photograph showing them on a hot air balloon ride and tried to recall the event byusing guided-imagery exercises. Fifty percent of the subjects created complete or partial false memories. The results bear on ways in which false memories can be created and also have practical implications for those involved in clinical and legal settings.

Effects of divided attention and word concreteness on correct recall and false memory reports

Lists of thematically related words were presented to participants with or without a concurrent task. In Experiments 1 and 2, respectively, English or Spanish word lists were either low or high in concreteness (concrete vs abstract words) and were presented, respectively, auditorily or visually for study. The addition of a concurrent visual or auditory task, respectively, substantially reduced correct recall and doubled the frequency of false memory reports (nonstudied critical or theme words). Divided attention was interpreted as having reduced the opportunity for participants to monitor successfully their elicitations of critical associates. Comparisons of concrete and abstract lists revealed significantly more recalls of false memories for abstract than concrete word lists. Comparisons between two levels of attention, two levels of word concreteness, and two presentation modalities failed to support the "more is less" effect by which enhanced correct recall is accompanied by increased frequencies of false memories.

Witnessing-condition heterogeneity and witnesses' versus investigators' confidence in the accuracy of witnesses' identification decisions

Undergraduate participants were tested in 144 pairs, with one member of each pair randomly assigned to a "witness" role and the other to an "investigator" role. Each witness viewed a target person on video under good or poor witnessing conditions and was then interviewed by an investigator, who administered a photo line up and rated his or her confidence in the witness. Witnesses also (separately) rated their own confidence. Investigators discriminated between accurate and inaccurate witnesses, but did so less well than witnesses' own confidence ratings and were biased toward accepting witnesses' decisions. Moreover, investigators' confidence made no unique contribution to the prediction of witnesses' accuracy. Witnesses' confidence and accuracy were affected in the same direction by witnessing conditions, and there was a substantial confidence-accuracy correlation when data were collapsed across witnessing conditions. Confidence can be strongly indicative of accuracy when witnessing conditions vary widely, and witnesses' confidence may be a better indicator than investigators'.

"Amnesia" for summer camps and high school graduation: memory work increases reports of prior periods of remembering less

Claims regarding amnesia for childhood sexual abuse have often been based on studies of adults' responses to questions of the form, "Was there ever a period of time when you remembered less of the abuse than you do now?" In this experiment, 43 adult (mean age = 42) participants rated their current and prior memories of several nontraumatic childhood/adolescent events. Reports of prior periods of less memory were fairly common. Participants then engaged in "reminiscence" or "enhanced" retrieval activities directed toward remembering more about a selected target event. Following retrieval, 35% of the reminiscence condition participants reported prior poor memory for the target event, as did 70% of the enhanced condition. These results highlight the need for appropriate control conditions in retrospective studies of amnesia for childhood trauma.

Importance of adenomas 5 mm or less in diameter that are detected by sigmoidoscopy

BACKGROUND

The need for colonoscopy in patients with adenomas 5 mm or less in diameter that are detected by sigmoidoscopy is controversial.

METHODS

We prospectively determined the prevalence of proximal colonic neoplasms in asymptomatic patients at average risk for colorectal cancer, each of whose index lesion on screening fiberoptic sigmoidoscopy was a benign adenoma. Polyps found on sigmoidoscopy underwent biopsy, and colonoscopy was recommended to all patients with neoplastic polyps. Rectosigmoid adenomas were classified as diminutive (< or = 5 mm in diameter), small (6 to 10 mm in diameter), or large (> or = 11 mm in diameter).

RESULTS

Of 3496 consecutive patients referred for sigmoidoscopy, 311 had neoplastic rectosigmoid polyps; 108 of these patients were excluded from the analysis because of a history of colonic neoplasia, symptoms, prior colonic evaluation, or incomplete follow-up data. The remaining 203 patients made up the study group, and all underwent colonoscopy. Neoplasms were found in the proximal colon in 40 of 137 patients (29 percent) with diminutive index polyps, 15 of 52 patients (29 percent) with small index polyps, and 8 of 14 patients (57 percent) with large index polyps. Advanced neoplasms (adenomas > or = 10 mm in diameter, adenomas with a villous component or moderate-to-severe dysplasia, carcinoma in situ, or frank carcinoma) were found in 8 patients (6 percent), 5 patients (10 percent), and 4 patients (29 percent), respectively. Two patients with diminutive index polyps had proximal carcinoma in situ, and two had proximal stage I carcinomas; one patient with a large index polyp had proximal stage III carcinoma.

CONCLUSIONS

The substantial prevalence of proximal colonic neoplasms, including advanced lesions, in asymptomatic average-risk patients with rectosigmoid adenomas < or = 5 mm in diameter warrants colonoscopy in these patients.

The Read Thesaurus--creation and beyond

The creation of the Read Thesaurus was a unique undertaking, involving over 2000 clinicians. This clinically-led, multidisciplinary enterprise posed many organisational and professional challenges. The process of term collection and integration and the problems encountered are described. A brief account is given of the large task of maintenance and refinement. This paper looks at the practical and cultural aspects and describes how problems were tackled by good organisation, clear guidelines and much goodwill.

A language of health in action: Read Codes, classifications and groupings

A cornerstone of the Information Management and Technology Strategy of the National Health Service's (NHS) Executive is fully operational, person-based clinical information systems, from which flow all of the data needed for direct and indirect care of patients by healthcare providers, and local and national management of the NHS. The currency of these data flows are firstly Read-coded clinical terms, secondly the classifications, the International, Classification of Disease and Health Related Problems, 10th Revision (ICD-10) and The Office of Population Censuses and Surveys Classification of Surgical Operations and Procedures, 4th Revision (OPCS-4), and thirdly Healthcare Resource Groups and Health Benefit Groups, all of which together are called the "language of health", an essential element of the electronic clinical record. This paper briefly describes the three main constituents of the language, and how, together with person-based, fully operational clinical information systems, it enables more effective and efficient healthcare delivery. It also describes how the remaining projects of the IM&T Strategy complete the key components necessary to provide the systems that will enable the flow of person-based data, collected once at the point of care and shared amongst all legitimate users via the electronic patient record.

Familiarity, memorability, and the effect of typicality on the recognition of faces

Typical faces are more poorly discriminated on tests of recognition than are atypical faces, an effect suggested to mediate similar findings for attractive or likable faces. We tested the hypothesis that the effect of typicality on recognition is a function of context-free familiarity and memorability, which function in opposition. Two orthogonal principal components were extracted from subjects' ratings of faces for typicality, familiarity, attractiveness, likability, and memorability--one consisting of the ratings of familiarity, attractiveness, and likability, and reflecting context-free familiarity, and the other consisting of the memorability rating. As expected, typicality loaded equally (r approximately .66), but with opposite sign, on both components. In subsequent experiments, both components were found to be significant and additive predictors of face recognition with no residual effect of typicality. General familiarity decreased discrimination, and the memorability component enhanced it, supporting the hypothesis. The results are discussed in terms of the mirror effect.