Impression formation or prediction? Category fit and task influence forensic person memory.

We experimentally investigated whether forensic psychologists
differ from laymen in their use of heuristic and integrated information
processing depending on the given task and category fit of
information. Participants’ task was either forming an impression
or predicting the development of a fictitious rapist and a fictitious
robber-and-murderer. Case report recall was measured. Results
showed that experts processed the rapist’s information heuristically
when offender information fit the category and the task
required impression formation. In contrast, laymen did not apply
the offender categories and processed all the information using
an integrated strategy. When predicting the development of an
offender, forensic psychologists integrated all relevant information.
The robber-and-murderer information was always processed
using an integrated strategy. The practical relevance of the results
is discussed.