Chapter 5: Eyewitness Testimony

Question 1

Recall memory

Answer 1

Reporting what you remember off the top of your head

Question 2

Recognition memory

Answer 2

Determining whether the person or thing you saw in the past is the same as what you’re looking at now (ex. multiple choice, choosing the one you recognize)

Question 3

What are the 5 stages of memory?

Answer 3

1) perception/attention
2) encoding stage
3) short-term memory
4) long-term memory
5) retrieval stage

Question 4

how to study eyewitness research

Archival Data

Answer 4

police reports, transcripts, etc

Question 5

Naturalistic Observations

(of witnesses)

Answer 5

Observe witness in real time

Question 6

How are lab studies used to do research on eyewitness testimony?

(what is their focus?)

Answer 6

Most common is tests relating to memory (ex. showing change blindness videos)

Question 7

IND. Estimator Variables

Answer 7

variables present at the time of the crime that cannot be changed (ex. age of witness)

Question 8

IND. System Variables

Answer 8

Variables that can be manipulated in order to increase or decrease eyewitness accuracy (ex. the type of lineup used)

Question 9

What are the 3 general DEP. variables in eyewitness studies?

Answer 9

1. recognition of perp.
2. recall of perp.
3. recall of event/crime

Question 10

Open-ended recall/Free narrative

Answer 10

• recount without being prompted
• TED questions (tell, explain, describe)

Question 11

Direct question recall

Answer 11

• asked specific questions about the event/crime (ex. what was the colour of their jacket?)

Question 12

What are the 3 ways recall of info is measured?

Answer 12

1) Amount (ex. how many details)
2) Type (ex. important? related? specific?)
3) Accuracy (ex. how many errors when comparing to other answers)

Question 13

What are the 2 ways that witness recognition is measured?

Answer 13

1. Accuracy (rate of correctly identifying the perp in a lineup)
2. Errors (rate of identifying an innocent person, rate of stating perp isn’t present when they are)

Question 14

Memory conformity

Answer 14

When there are multiple witnesses to a crime, one can be “contaminated” when they know what another witness has said about the crime
- when what one witness reports influences what another witness reports

Question 15

Is it beneficial to mix visual and auditory questions during an interview?

Answer 15

No because asking a witness to recall on physical memories and audio memories can get confusing and may impact what is remembered correctly

Question 16

What did Loftus and Palmer (1974) discover?

Answer 16

A witness recall report can be altered by the phrasing of the question being asked
- studies on “smashed” vs. “hit” cars (ex. the people who were asked questions using “smashed” reported that the car was going faster than the people who were asked “hit” questions)

Question 17

Misinformation Effect/ Post-Event Information Effect

Answer 17

If a witness is given false information about the event after it has happened, they are more likely to incorporate that misinformation into their recall of the event

Question 18

Misinformation Acceptance Hypothesis

Answer 18

• witness trying to please the questioner
• guessing which answer they think the questioner wants to hear

Question 19

Source Misattribution Hypothesis

Answer 19

witnesses remember their accurate and inaccurate memories of the event but can’t remember which one is which

Question 20

Memory Impairment Hypothesis

Answer 20

Original memory gets overwritten by a new memory that is likely influenced by leading questions

Question 21

Why is it thought that hypnosis can improve eyewitness recall?

Answer 21

Idea that a hypnotized person may be able to retrieve more details about an event from their subconscious

Question 22

What’s an issue with using hypnosis in an interview?

Answer 22

Hypnotized people are highly suggestible and are usually equally confident in their accurate and inaccurate info

Question 23

Is hypnosis allowed in canadian courts?

Answer 23

no

Question 24

Cognitive Interview

Answer 24

an interview based on the principles of memory storage and retrieval

Question 25

What are 4 memory retrieval techniques used in a cognitive interview?

Answer 25

1. reinstating context 2. reporting everything 3. recall event in a different order 4. changing perspective

Question 26

Enhanced Cognitive Interview

Answer 26

includes principles of social dynamics

Question 27

# Enhanced Cognitive Interview Rapport building

Answer 27

Officer should spend time with witness and make them feel comfortable

Question 28

# Enhanced Cognitive Interview Supportive interviewer behaviour | Cognitive Interview + principles of social dynamics

Answer 28

officer shouldn't interrupt free-recall and should pay attention to the witness

Question 29

# Enhanced Cognitive Interview Transfer of control

Answer 29

since the witness is the person who saw the crime, they should be in charge of the flow of the interview

Question 30

# Enhanced Cognitive Interview Focused retrieval | Cognitive Interview + principles of social dynamics

Answer 30

questions should be open-ended, not leading or suggestive - officer should use focused memory techniques

Question 31

# Enhanced Cognitive Interview Witness compatible questioning

Answer 31

officer's questions should match with what the witness is talking about (ex. witness talking about clothing=questions about clothing)

Question 32

What are some common descriptions of perpetrators that are typically accurate? | (three)

Answer 32

gender, hair colour, hair style

Question 33

What are some common descriptions of perpetrators that are typically inaccurate? | (three)

Answer 33

weight, eye colour, shoes

Question 34

What's the difference between a suspect and a perpetrator?

Answer 34

Suspect is the person in question but they could be innocent or guilty Perpetrator is the person who did it 100%

Question 35

What is considered a "fair lineup"?

Answer 35

One where the suspect doesn't stand out (the foils look like them too)

Question 36

What are some reasons that police choose to use a photo lineup vs. a live lineup? | (four)

Answer 36

- faster and easier to construct, portable - behaviour of suspects don't interfere - suspect doesn't have the right to counsel (doesn't need to be told their rights because they aren't there) - witness may be less anxious looking at photos than standing in front of people

Question 37

Simultaneous Lineup - what kind of judgement does it rely on?

Answer 37

All lineup members presented at the same time - good for relative judgement

Question 38

Relative Judgement

Answer 38

witness compares lineup members with each other and decides which one looks most like the perp.

Question 39

What are Sequential lineups? What kind of judgement do they rely on?

Answer 39

Witness shown one suspect and asked to make a decision before being shown the next suspect - reduces the use of relative judgement because the witness can't ask to see a suspect twice - good for absolute judgement

Question 40

Are children more effective when shown a simultaneous lineup or a sequential lineup? Adults?

Answer 40

Children: more effective = simultaneous/elimination lineup Adults: more effective = sequential lineups

Question 41

Absolute Judgement | (in identification procedures)

Answer 41

Witness compares the suspect with their memory of the perp instead of comparing them to the other suspects

Question 42

1) What is a showup? 2) What kind of judgement is likely to occur? 3) What is a problem with this kind of lineup?

Answer 42

1) Suspect is shown to witness 2) absolute judgement 3) the witness knows who the police think the suspect is so their response may be biased (showups are suggestive)

Question 43

What is a walk-by? | (identification prodedure)

Answer 43

Witness is taken to a public place where the suspect is likely to be Asked to report when they think they see the perp.

Question 44

What is a biased lineup?

Answer 44

A lineup that is suggestive as to who the suspect is

Question 45

What are 3 common biases that increase the risk of false identification in lineup procedures? - What is the major concern?

Answer 45

1) Foil bias 2) Clothing bias 3) Instruction bias - false positives/identification

Question 46

Foil Bias | (in lineups)

Answer 46

- only one person in the lineup that has similar features (ex. only one red head)

Question 47

1) What is Clothing Bias? 2) How can it be avoided? | (in lineups)

Answer 47

1) only one person wearing the specific clothing described to police 2) either everyone needs the same clothing or no one has it

Question 48

Instruction Bias (most important) | (in lineups)

Answer 48

The police don't tell the witness that the perp may not be present and that they don't have to choose someone if they don't feel it is anyone - this avoids the witness choosing someone because they feel they have to

Question 49

Voice Identification: What are some factors that increase accuracy? | (2 points)

Answer 49

- longer voice samples - similar accent to witness

Question 50

Voice Identification: What are some factors that decrease accuracy? | (5 points)

Answer 50

- whispering, muffling - change in tone - threatening messages - more foils (too many to remember and compare) - target's voice occurs later in the lineup

Question 51

Does confident = correct?

Answer 51

confident witnesses aren't more accurate in their memory

Question 52

# Estimator Variable: Age Are older adults and younger adults equally as accurate in identification procedures?

Answer 52

Older adults are less accurate - memory, vision, etc.

Question 53

# Estimator Variable: Race Cross-Race Effect | (identification procedures)

Answer 53

Higher accuracy when target is the same race as witness (not a lot of empirical evidence)

Question 54

What are the 3 explanations of the cross-race effect/other-race effect

Answer 54

1) ATTITUDES people with racist views may be less inclined to distinguish among members of other races research suggests that this may not be about attitude but more about how much contact someone typically has with other races (if they're racist) 2) PHYSIOGNOMIC HOMOGENEITY some races have less variability in their faces "they all look the same" lacks empirical evidence 3) INTERRACIAL CONTACT suggests that the more time you spend with other races, the better you will be at identifying them has the most evidence to back it up but still not certain

Question 55

What does the weapon focus phenomenon suggest?

Answer 55

The witness may not remember as many details about a crime when there is a weapon present

Question 56

# Estimator Variable: Presence of a weapon Cue-Utilization Hypothesis

Answer 56

Theory that emotional arrousal increases in the presense of a weapon - attentional arrousal decreases (less details noticed)

Question 57

# Estimator Variable: Presence of a weapon Unusualness Hypothesis

Answer 57

Theory that less details are encoded because weapons are unusual and unexpexted - witness focuses more on weapon because they're surprised (exogenous cue) - when something is unexpected, it's harder to remember details because you weren't prepared to pay attention

Question 58

What are the 4 guidelines for improvement in eyewitness evidence in the US?

Answer 58

1) person conducting lineup shouldn't know who the suspect is 2) witesses told suspect/perp may not be in the lineup 3) suspect shouldn't stand out 4) witnesses confidence assessed prior to feedback

Question 59

What did Kassin add to eyewitness evidence guidelines?

Answer 59

lineups should be recorded and taped

Question 60

What are the 4 additional guidelines for improvement in eyewitness evidence in Canada?

Answer 60

1) photo lineups videotaped 2) tell witnesses it's just as important to identify innocent suspects (elimination) 3) sequential lineups 4) officers should not provide feedback

Question 61

Approximately _ percent of wrongful conviction cases (exonerated through DNA evidence) have been attributed to eyewitness identification a) 50 b) 10-20 c) 75 d) 25

Answer 61

c) 75

Question 62

Which Canadian case involving poor police techniques in collecting eyewitness evidence resulted in a set of recommendations for conducting lineup identifications? a) R. v. Reno b) Neil v. Biggers c) R. v. Brooks d) R. v. Sophonow

Answer 62

d) R. v. Sophonow Wrongful conviction of woman strangled in a donut shop

Question 63

# Factors affecting encoding Attentional Saturation

Answer 63

- so much going on all the time so we generalize it because we can't encode it all - may miss details but can still recognize familiarity

Question 64

What factors may affect encoding?

Answer 64

attention, unexpectedness, witness involvement, stress level of witness, state of witness (tired, under the influence, etc.)

Question 65

What factors may affect retrieval? | (six)

Answer 65

- inferences (people guess) - stereotypes (fill in gaps) - biases influence memory - scripts/schemas (typical vs. actual info) - emotional factors (ex. anxiety blocks retrieval) - context effects (cues trigger memories)