Psychology, Department of
Date of this Version
January 1999
Abstract
If the relationship between confidence and accuracy extended across domains, then one could assess performance in a known domain and use it to estimate performance in another domain. The stability of the confidence- accuracy relationship across the domains of eyewitness memory and general knowledge was investigated. The major findings of Experiment 1 were that in both domains participants were overconfident, yet more confident on correct than on incorrect responses, and that the degrees of overconfidence, calibration, and resolution in the 2 domains were positively correlated. Experiment 2 replicated these findings and showed that feedback about overconfidence reduced overall confidence levels but did not improve calibration or resolution. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of metamemory and individual differences.
Comments
Published in Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 5:1 (1999), pp. 76–88. Copyright © 1999 American Psychological Association. Used by permission. “This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record.” http://www.apa.org/journals/