Cognitive - EWT

Question 1

Intro

Answer 1

• minds not like cameras - brains do not take pics of events to be recalled with 100% accuracy
• pre-existing biases and stereotypes can colour our memories, as can info acquired after the event such as leading questions
• memories for events are reconstructed from various sources and so what we think we remember may not always be accurate
• general public understanding is different - juries likely to be swayed by EWT, particularly if confident - Nolan and Markham 1998
• there is evidence to suggest it is fairly reliable - results from labs generalised to real life crime?
• two strands of debate are the role of reconstructive memory and role of emotion

Question 2

EWT unreliable: post event info

Answer 2

• after the fact information can be used to fill in any gaps in memory and becomes incorporated as an actual memory
• Loftus and Palmer asked ‘did you see a broken headlight?’ - 7% say yes, asked ‘did you see the broken headlight?’ - 17% say yes
• even subtle change can create inaccuracies —> police/lawyers etc can cause a distorted account using a subtle change in words
• lacks ecological validity as in a laboratory setting - can lab results be generalised to everyday life?
• lab study does not involve the mundane realism of emotion and motivation which would be involved in a real EWT

Question 3

EWT reliable: post event info

Answer 3

• research tends to be misleading as it focuses on details that are tricky for us to estimate ie speed, or details not central to incident
  —> very difficult for Loftus and Palmers Ps to guess speed of car from a video
• not all research suggests post info is misleading
• Loftus (1979) showed Ps a series of pictures of a man stealing a red wallet from a woman’s bag
• 98% of Ps able to identify colour correctly
• used leading questions to try and alter responses but Ps persisted the purse was red
  —> contradicts Loftus and Palmers speed research as suggests thta in some circumstances, leading Qs have limited impact on memory
  —> colour less subjective than speed?
• cost on economy of unreliable EWT is vast due to re-trials and compensation - 124 bill per year (7.7% of UKs GDP)
• biggest implication is possibility the real perpetrator remains free - risk to society

Question 4

EWT unreliable: children

Answer 4

• memories of children and elderly less reliable than adults as they lack the vocab and schemas to understand and articulate themselves to police
• children more vulnerable to external pressures such as leading Qs and memories are more likely to be tainted by post-event information
• Goodman and Reed - 16x 3yr old, 16x 6yr old, 16x adults interacted w unfamiliar man. 4-5 days later,a sneer objective and suggestive Qs to recall events & identify from lineup
  —>adults and 6yr old not differ in ability to recall, but 6yr old more suggestible. 3yr lads answer fewer Qs correctly and identified less frequently, and more suggestible
• Cox and Valentine (1997) found 8yr old affected by Qs misleading info but 17yr olds not
• Gesielman and Padilla (1988) found children’s accuracy far less accurate for bank robbery recall, but other research found little difference especially when free recall is used
• way in which children are questioned may be issue, not their age

Question 5

EWT reliable: children

Answer 5

• less likely to have interpretation influenced by assumptions, previous experiences or stereotypes
• Kent and Yuille (1987) asked children to identify person form lineup that they had seen earlier
  —> 9yr old more likely than 14yr old to identify someone from photo set even when target person not present
• earlier research that children as young as 5 able to correctly identify expel so memory is not issue but probably feel unable to admit to adult that they cannot do task
• most research is laboratory - good control of extraneous variables and independent variables carefully constructed to enable cause and effect
• lack ecological validity and population validity (generalisability) as Ps from specific population
• own age bias

Question 6

EWT unreliable: reconstructive memory

Answer 6

• Bartlett (1932) first proposed theory that memory is not always a complete reduction of a witnessed event - memory reconstructed w various pieces of info so can often be inaccurate
• memory can be seen as trying to make past seem more logical, coherent and generally sensible
• reconstruct memory based on our existing understanding of the world - schema
  —> make world more predictable and have powerful impact on memory
• pre-existing schemata may alter the way a person remembers a crime
• Allport and Postman (1947) investigated fact of stereotypes on recal
  —> stereotype is schema containing beliefs about certain group of people
• white Ps shown pic of black person at gym point by white man —> Ps remembered image the other way round due to racist schema
• Tuckey and Brewer (2003) investigated stereotypical recall of bank robbery and found Ps recalled more details associated w stereotypes of robbery than the actual robbery they watched
• supports theory that memory better when related to stereotypes
• Ps also good at remembering info that was counter-stereotype
• Huff reported 60% of 500 cases of wrongful convictions involved eyewitness identification errors
• this could lead to scepticism which would be problematic as EWT are still an important piece of evidence in a court of law

Question 7

EWT reliable: reconstructive memory

Answer 7

• in many crimes EWS know the perpetrator
• RapeCrsis reports that 90% of rapists know their victims
  —> likelihood of identifying the assailant is more
• Yullie and Cutshall (1986) found evidence for a greater accuracy in real life crimes than artificial crimes
• it eases to armed robbery in Canada gave accurate reports 4 months later even with the use of 2 misleading Qs
• in the UK, safeguards are built into justice system
  —> PACE (1984) offered a code of practise that needs to be adhered to in regard to conduct of identification attempts
• still permissible to secure condition on the uncorroborated evidence of a single eye witness
• society faces risk as real perpetrators gets way if someone is wrongfully convicted

Question 8

Conclusion

Answer 8

• if EWT unreliable then miscarriages of justice can take place, resulting in long-lasting psychological harm
• distressing stories such as that of Ronald Cotton led to increasing controversy about the death penalty in America
  —> Columbia university - 68% of death sentences between 1973 and 1995 were overturned
• as a result of unreliable EWT, there are now safeguards in place to protect child witnesses and perps potential harm from the community
• no longer need to rely on EWT due to technology - DNA evidence and CCTV
• recorded everywhere might infringe on peoples freedom and could lead to creation of a ‘big brother’ society