65 Anusilan, (2010) ISSN 0973-8762 Volume XXIX, pp. 65-70 Personality differences in source-monitoring of witnessed details Gyanesh Kumar Tiwari, Ph. D. 1 ABSTRACT The present study attempted to investigate the effects of introversion-extraversion dimension of personality, two levels of emotional arousal and two types of detail on the accuracy of correct source-monitoring of witnessed events. Two video-clipped events and two corresponding passages were used to induce emotional arousal in twenty introvert and twenty extravert adolescents age range 15yrs 06 mo to 17yrs 06 mo (M= 16 yrs 06 mo). Their accuracy of source monitoring for central and peripheral details was assessed with the help of two sets of test. Extraverts showed higher accuracy of source-monitoring as compared to introverts. The scores on source-monitoring were higher under low as compared to high level of emotional arousal and the central details got prominence in source- monitoring as compared to peripheral details. Significant interactions were observed between personality, emotional arousal and types of detail in sourcing the details. The results are explained in terms of Eysenck‟s arousal theory and cognitive patterning theory. Keywords: Judgement of source, Eyewitness memory, Introversion, Extraversion, Emotional arousal, Types of detail, Source-monitoring. Introduction In eyewitness testimony, witnesses are not only required to recall correctly the details of witnessed events but also they are often expected to identify the source the witnessed details. The relationship of emotionality inherent in eyewitness situation and accuracy of recall has been thoroughly investigated but what affect the source- monitoring of witnessed events is neglected in eyewitness research. Source-monitoring refers to the set of processes involved in making attributions about the origin of memories, knowledge and beliefs (Johnson, Hashtroudi & Lindsay, 1993). The ability to remember accurately the source of a memory is an important ingredient in cognitive competence (Cohen & Faulkner, 1989). However, everyday observations confirm that memory for source is imperfect and experiments have shown that people forget whether they had actually done something or only planned to do it (Cohen & Faulkner, 1989). Source-misattribution is one of the factors involved in the errors and distortions that arise in eyewitness testimony (Belli, Lindsay, Gales & McCarthy, 1994; Lindsay & Johnson, 1989; Loftus, 1979; Weingardt, Loftus & Lindsay, 1995). According to the source-monitoring framework, there are several phenomenal cues that can be used by a rememberer to specify the source of a mental record, including such mnemonic cues as vividness, perceptual detail and spatial and temporal information. Because mental experiences from different sources differ on an average in their phenomenal qualities, these qualities can support source- monitoring using either a heuristically based process as a more strategic, systematic process. In eyewitness research, the impact of arousal on source-monitoring decisions has been considerably neglected, even though eyewitnesses are often exposed to very arousing situations. In general, anything that occurs during encoding that prevents a person 1 Assistant Professor, M. L. K. P. G. College, Balrampur-271201, U. P. (INDIA), Email-gyaneshpsychology@gmail.com