Psychologiczna ocena zeznań świadków, przy zastosowaniu współczesnych metod analizy treściowej
Psychological Assessment of Witness Statements with the Use of Modern Content Analysis Methods

Summary/Abstract: It is argued that content analysis methods, such as Statement Validity Assessment (SVA),Reality Monitoring (RM), and Scientific Content Analysis (SCAN), considering their low concurrent validity, should not be used as a basis for assessments delivered for the purposes of court proceedings. Our aim was to develop a new technique for the analysis of adult witness statements based on the multi-dimensional analysis of psychological reliability factors. The Multivariable Adult’s Statement Assessment Method (MASAM) was theoretically grounded in the hypothesis by Udo Undeutch, completed by the following additional assumptions: each deposition bears both true and false contents; the reliability of statements should not be assessed holistically; the psychological assessment of the reliability factors requires the previous analysis of variables significant for the formation of statements. The study covered 12 students in forensic psychology (out of which 6 used SVA, RM and SCAN techniques, and the other six MASAM one) who assessed 30 depositions (15 true and 15 false ones). The results suggest that MASAM helps establish a more accurate assessment of the statement veracity. The concordance coefficients for assessments made by expert judges were statistically higher when MASAM was applied.

• Details
• Contents