1.4.5 Cognitive Debate - Reliability Of EWT Flashcards
Why do juries give a lot of weight to EWT?
It can be very powerful due to the conviction the witnesses have
What did the innocence project state about EWT and convictions?
EWT is the number one cause of wrongful convictions
Why are wrongful convictions and miscarriages of justice issues?
Innocent people can go to prison for many years or even be executed Criminals are then left roaming the streets
The decline committee found out what percentage of convictions were based entirely on EWT?
74% out of 347 cases
Radin found false conviction rate in the US based on EWT was what percentage?
5%
So 5% of prisoners innocent is equal to:
1 in 20 prisoners
What things can affect how we remember events?
Pre existing bias stereotypes Leading questions
Our memories are reconstructed and combined with various sources, what does this mean?
What we think we remember may not be entirely accurate
What did Nolan and markham (1998) find about juries and EWT?
They may be swayed by EWT particularly if the eyewitness seems confident
Why are people very bad at remembering details in crime situations?
They avert their gaze Attention focuses elsewhere - weapon focus Running away
RM - what are schemas?
Packets of information about the world around us that we store in our long term memory they are not necessarily reliable
(Schemas) Bartlett argued that memory was reconstructed what did he mean? RM
Not a complete reproduction of a witnessed event rather a combining of information
(Schemas)If memory is reconstructed as Bartlett says, is it accurate? RM
No
(Schemas) What did Bartlett argue played a major role in remembering events? RM
Interpretation
(Schemas) Bartlett said remembering can be seen as an “effort after meaning” what did he mean? RM
We try to make the past more logical, coherent and sensible
(Schemas) What did Bartlett say schematta helps us to do? RM
Make sense of the world, making it more predictable
(Schemas) In reconstructing memory what do schemas often do? RM
Fill the gaps in our memory, producing significant distortions
(Schemas) What may pre existing schemas do in relation to EWT? RM
Alter the way a person remembers a crime They forget things that don’t fit with their schemas
(Schemas) What did Allport and Postman’s study involve? RM
Showing white participants an image of a smart black business man being threatened by a white man
(Schemas) What did Allport and postman find in their study? RM
Participants later recalled the image as the white man being threatened by the black man
How could you explain Allport and Postmans findings in relation to schemas? RM
At the time it was a racist society, people would have schemas such as black men being linked to crime, and black men not being successful businessmen
(Schemas) Tuckey and brewer investigated stereotyped recall of a bank robbery, what did they find? RM
When participants were questioned on there recall of a bank robbery video they remembered more details that for with the stereotype of a bank robber
(Schemas) What do tuckey and Brewers findings support in relation to schemas? RM
The theory that we are better at remembering things that fit with our schemas
(Schemas) What did tuckey and brewer also find in relation to countersterotype information? RM
Participants were also good at remembering things that did not fit with their existing schemas e.g the robbers didn’t have guns
(Leading questions) What did loftus and palmers research into leading questions show? RM
Leading questions have the ability to alter a persons memory of an event
(Leading questions) What did loftus and palmers leading question research show?RM
Leading questions have the ability to alter a persons memory of an event
(Leading questions) What is a criticism of loftus and Palmer using speed estimates in their research? RM
Judging speed is complex therefore participants may be more prone to being led
(Leading questions) What were participants asked in loftus and Zanni’s a/the research? RM
If they had seen a/ the broken headlight
(Leading questions) What were the results of loftus and Zanni’s a/the research? RM
7% of a reported seeing one compared to 17% of the
(Leading questions) What did loftus and Zanni’s research demonstrate about leading questions? RM
They can cause a participant to remember something that wasn’t actually there
(Leading questions) What did loftus’ red purse study involve? RM
Showing participants a series of images of a man stealing a ref purse from a woman’s bag
(Leading questions) What question did loftus then ask in his red purse study? RM
If they had seen a brown purse being stolen
(Leading questions) What percentage of participants correctly recalled the purse was red? RM
98%
(Leading questions) What does loftus’ red purse study imply about leading questions?
Leading questions do not affect memory
(Leading questions) A lot of research into reconstructive memory used lab experiments, what is good about this? And what is bad?
Control, repeated, consistent, cause and effect Lack of ecological validity
(Leading questions) research has led to the development of what?
Cognitive interview - increase accuracy of EWT Witnesses recreate the incident, recall it in different orders and from different perspectives
(Leading questions) Yuille and cutshall found those closer to the crime where what?
More accurate in EWT - less likely to be swayed by leading questions
(Emotion) crimes where the witness is under a lot of stress lead to what?
Poorer recall
(Emotion) deffenbacher conducted a meta analysis on eyewitness recall finding high stress had a negative impact on what?
Accuracy
(Emotion) Christianson - witnesses to real bank robberies had what?
Better recall than onlookers not involved
(Emotion) flashbulb memories - what do they describe?
Vivid, long lasting memories occurring at times of heightened emotion As if mind has taken picture
(Emotion) give examples of common flashbulb memories:
9/11 Princess Diana’s death
(Emotion) flashbulb memories are highly detailed and supposedly immune to what?
Decay
(Emotion) talarico and Rubin - had 54 students to recall their memory of what?
The 9/11 attacks the day after the event
(Emotion) talarico and Rubin also asked about what? And when we’re that tested?
Birthday party 1,6 and 32 weeks later
(Emotion) talarico and Rubin - consistency if flashbulb and everyday memories did not do what?
Differ both memories declined overtime
(Emotion) talarico and Rubin - participants thought their recall of 9/11 was much more what?
Vivid they thought themselves it was more accurate
(Emotion) eyewitnesses may be asked to give evidence when and what is an issue of this?
Months after an event Think emotional memories are more accurate they are and their confidence may be a deciding factor for juries
(Emotion) odiniot - 14 witnesses of an armed robbery and checked recall against CCTV, what was found?
84% of recalled info correct Witnesses reporting high levels of emotional impact had more accurate recall
(Emotion) real events are high in what?
Ecological validity - show persons actual emotions in the situation
(Emotion) real life situations raise what issues?
Lack of control Ethics of recalling a highly emotive potentially traumatic experience
(Emotion) what is the yerkes Dodson curve?
Relationship between emotional arousal and level of performance Too much emotion can affect memory Too little not paying attention
(Emotion) Macleod - real life EWT of 379 assaults vs crimes with no physical injury there was no what and what did this suggest?
No difference inaccuracy of recall Suggests levels of emotions do not make a difference into recall
(Age) the younger the child the less what? And why is this an issue?
Less info they provide to researcher Interviewers need to encourage children to be detailed and specific Which can lead to inaccurate statement
(Age) young children are more likely to change their answer when the question is repeated why?
Assume they got the answer wrong the first time
(Age) social factors such as the child seeing the interviewer as an authority figure makes them more susceptible to what?
Leading questions
(Age) suggestibility - Goodman children are more likely to give the what?
Answer implied by the question than an adult would
(Age) suggestibility - Ceci in children aged 3 to 12 what age were most susceptible to having memories altered and why?
4 Their memories are weaker and fade faster than older children
(Age) suggestibility - gross and Hayne - children as young as 5 could identify who?
Unknown person they interacted with briefly for two days
(Age) suggestibility - gross and Hayne - when the target person was absent from the Line up children did what?
Performed poorly and selected wrong person In their eagerness to please the interviewer they thought they should identify a picture
(Age) suggestibility - if encouraged to think really hard a child may do what?
Remember events that never happened
(Age) suggestibility - peer pressure can influence what?
What children report
(Age) language - the more complex a Question the more likely a child would give what?
Inaccurate answer
(Age) language - Davies - children are fairly accurate in their memories they don not usually do what?
Make things up Don’t deliberately lie Memory is not altered by adult suggestion after event
(Age) language - all age groups are most accurate when what?
Recognising offender form own age group
(Age) elderly - cohen - young adults and the elderly were shown a silent film of what?
Kidnapping
(Age) elderly - participants were then given a summary of the crime to read one accurate one inaccurate all participants were asked to do what and what was found?
Recall Elderly were much more likely to include some incorrect material in their account of crime
(Age) elderly - coxon - video of crime elderly participants were less accurate in their overall recall, poorer recall was attributed to what?
Advancing age
What is an ethical implication of relaibility EWT in term of psychological harm
Potential psychological harm - traumatic memories or miscarriages of justice
Give an example of a misscarriage of justice
Post event information provided to Jenifer Thompson about her rapist meant that Ronald Cotton was incorrectly identified on a number of occassions and sentenced to life in prison plus 50 years
What have frightening stories about incorrect EWT led to
Increasing controversy about the death penalty in the USA
What did a columbia university find
68% of death sentences imposed between 1973 and 1995 were overturned
What is a further unethical result of unreliable EWT
- Safeguards in place to ‘protect’ child witnesses and perpetrators from potential harm from the community
What are the economic implications of research in this area?
Fewer miscarriages of justice - less cost Cheaper and quicker court trials
How is the cost of compensation effected by unreliable EWT
Compensation for those wrongfully imprisoned creates economic implications for unreliable EWT
Give an example of compensation having to be provided
Ronald Cotton was allegedly paid $105,000 in compensation for the 11 years he spent in prison
How much does it cost per day for a trial in crown court
£80,000
What are social implications of research?
Should ensure juries think carefully about weight givens to EWT - better conviction rates
Issue with increasing use of CCTV as a result of unreliable EWT
Might infringe on peoples freedoms and creates a ‘big brother’ society
Why is the evidence contradictory
For every piece of information about the reliability of child eye-witness there is another that claims they are unreliable
What is reliability of EWT dependant on
The interviewers level of skill and the witnesses personality - is the cognitive interview always useful
Evaluate reliability of EWT in terms of realism and validity
- much of the research lacks mundane realism and external validity
- However it is done in a lab environment which is sterile
