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Memory (paper 1) > Eyewitness Testimony > Flashcards

Eyewitness Testimony Flashcards

1
Q

what is eyewitness testimony ?

A
  • legal term where eyewitnesses give evidence to the police or court concerning a crime
  • least trustworthy type of evidence used in court
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2
Q

why is eyewitness testimony extremely unreliable

A

memories are fragile and become easily distorted and therefore reconstructed

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3
Q

what 2 factors can affect the reliability of eyewitness testimony ?

A
  1. misleading information - leading questions and post event discussion
  2. anxiety
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4
Q

what is misleading information ?

A

incorrect information given to the eyewitness which can unintentionally distort the memory of the original crime

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5
Q

what was the aim of loftus and palmer’s study

A

to investigate whether leading questions would result in eyewitness testimony being inaccurate

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6
Q

what was the procedure of lofuts and palmer’s study ?

A
  • lab experminet which investigated the effects of leading questions for memory or a car accident
  • 45 participants were shown a film of a car accident, after they were put into 1 or 5 conditions and asked about speed of the cars
  • “how fast were the cars going when they (smashed,collided,bumped,hit,contacted) each other
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7
Q

what was the conclusion of loftus and palmer’s study

A

being exposed to leading questions after an event has occured can distrot the witnesses’ memory for that event

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8
Q

what speed was estimated when vthe word smashed was used ?

A

41mph

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9
Q

what speed was estimated when the word contacted was used ?

A

32 mph

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10
Q

what is post event discussion ?

A

witnesses discussions with each other about events after it has occured

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11
Q

what is the source monitoring effect ?

A
  • witnesses memories beome distorted as confusion can occur over where the information came from originally
  • either the witness’ own memory or from the other witnesses
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12
Q

what is the memory conformity effect ?

A
  • witness memories become distorted as they believe the other witnesses to be right
  • so often go along with each others accounts to win social approval
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13
Q

what was the aim of gabbert et al’s study

A

to investigate the effects of post event discussion on accuracy of eyewitness testimony

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14
Q

explain the method for gabbert et al’s study

A
  • investigated memory conformity effect between pairs of participantswho viewed a simulated crime event on video
  • participants were told they were seeing the same footage, however they were filmed from different angles which gave 2 different perspectives
  • in the experimental condition participants were allowed time to discuss what they had witnessed befroe completing an indivuidual test of recall
  • in the controll condition pairing did not discuss the events they just completed the test
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15
Q

what % of participants in the experimental condition recalled information they hadn’t seen ?

A

71%

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16
Q

what % of participants in the control condition recalled information they hadn’t seen ?

A

0%

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17
Q

what did Gabbert et al conclude about their research ?

A

being exposed to post event discussion distorted the witnesses’ memory for that event through the source monitoring effect

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18
Q

A strength of eyewitness testimony

reliability

A

I: the research is high in reliability
E: uses lab experiments and therefore has standardised procedures. EG - same video clip used, same Q’s asked
C: the research is replicable. results have been shown to be consistent, and therefore reliably conclude that misleading information distorts eyewitness testimony

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19
Q

A strength of eye witness testimony

practical

A

I: research has practical applications
E: used to warn the justice system of problems with relying on EWT (leading questions)
research in this area led to development of cognitive interview, which is now widley used by police to reduce neg effects of misleading info on EWT
C: research can be praised, since it has been used to improve the justice system and reduce wrongful convictions

20
Q

A weakness of eye witness testimony

eco validity

A

I: lab experiments are low eco validity
E: the situation of watching a video clip of a crime is artificial and not the same as witnessing a crime in real life. EG - the video clip creates a lack of anxiety, and less concsequences of answering questions inncorrectly
C: the finding that misleading information distorts EWT may not be generalizable to real life crimes

21
Q

define anxiety in the context of EWT

A

a state of emotional and physical arousal in response to a stressful situation

22
Q

what was the aim of christianson and hubinette’s study

A

to investigate whether anxiety can have a positive effect on EWT recall when the event involved a real threat to ones life

23
Q

what was christianson and hubinette’s procedure

A
  • 110 real life witnesses were studied, who each witnessed bank robberies in sweden
  • some were onlookers (low anxiety), bank clerks who had been directly threatended (moderate to high anxiety)
  • interviews were conducted 4-15 months after the event to test for accuracy
24
Q

what were the results of christianson and hubinette’s study

A
  • all witnesses showed good memories for details of the robbery - better than 75% accurate recall
  • bank clerks had the best recall of all
25
what was the conclusion of christianson and hubinette's study
anxiety improved the accuracy of EWT
26
what was the aim of Johnson and scott’s study
to see if anxiety affects the accuracy of eyewitness testimony and facial recognition
27
what was the procedure of Johnson and scott’s study
ppts invited to a lab where they were told to wait in the reception area - then exposed to one of two conditions 1. ‘no weapon’ overheard a conversation in the lab about equipment failure. after confederate left the lab with greasy hands holding a pen 2. ‘weapon’ ppts overheard heated argument and the sound of broken glass. confederate ran into reception holding a bloody letter opener both groups were shown 50 phots and asked to identify the person
28
what were the findings of Johnson and Scott’s study
those who witnessed the pen correctly identified 49% of the time those who witnessed the knife correctly identified 33% of the time
29
what did johnson and scott conclude about their study
participants who were exposed to the weapon condition had higher levels of anxiety and were more likely to focus their attention on the weapon and not the face of the target (weapon focus effect) anxiety decreased the accuracy of EWT
30
why can low levels of anxiety make people recall details less accuracy
* boredom * lack or interest if your not scared * low anxiety levels * your less likely to pay attention
31
why can moderate levels of anxiety make people recall details more accurate
it creates altertness and an emotional memory trace
32
why can high levels of anxiety make people recall details less accuracy
* reduces attention and concentration - tunnel theory * especially if there is a weapon focus
33
A strength of anxiety as a factor effecting EWT | High eco
I: Christianson & Hubinette research has high eco validity + mundane realism E: study is a natural experiment that took place in a real life setting. explain more about study C: the findings (anxiety can have a positive effect on recall), can be generalised to real-life eyewitnesses
34
A weakness of anxiety as a factor effecting EWT | internal validity
I: the Christianson & Hubinette research lacks internal validity E: as a natural experiment the IV has not been deliberatley manipulated EG: anxiety hasn't been directly manipulated - may have been other factors which had an effect (age or memory) C: we cannot be certain that anxiety has caused the positive effect on recall
35
A weakness of anxiety as a factor effecting EWT | individual differences
I: individuals differences which affect the influence of anxiety on EWT E: individuals who score high in neuroticism have decreased levels of accuracy as stress increases compared to individuals with personality types who score high on stability C: emotional sensitivity of witnesses may affect how accurate their testimony is when anxiety is present
36
features of a standard police interview
* bombarded with a series of direct closed ended questions * often interrupted * not allowed to talk freely * rushed through details
37
who developed the cognitive interview
Geiselman and Fisher
38
features of the cognertive interview ?
aims to * minimise distractions * activeley listen to witness * open ended question * avoid interupting and judgmental questions * uses retrival cues
39
what are the 4 components that enchance recall ?
1. report everything 2. context reinstatement 3. change order 4. change perspective
40
explain report everything
the witness is asked to report every single detail regarding the incident, no matterhow trivial or insignificant it may seem
41
explain context reinstatment
the witness is asked to mentally recreate the enviroment where the incident took place | helps context dependent forgetting
42
explain change order
the witness is asked to report the incident in different chronological orders, moving backward and forward in time
43
explain change perspective
the witness is asked to report the incident from a different perspective
44
what did the 'enhanced cognitive interview' include
* getting the witness to speak slowly * adapt language to suit the witness * minimise distractions
45
strength of the cognertive interview | supporting
I: supporting evidence which shows the CI improves accurate recall E: fisher et al trained detectives in miami police station to use the CI with real eye witnesses found that when CI was used in coompation to standard interview , significantly more detail was recalled C: CI is an effective technique for gaining more accurate info from eye witnesses to a crime compared to other techniques
46
A weakness of the cognertive interview | practical issue
I: practical problems in using the CI E: to be able to use CI requires extensive training which is very costly and time consuming. also takes longer to conduct a CI comared to a standard interview meaning not enough time to use all 4 CI components C: may not be practical for all police forces to use this technique
47
A weakness of cognertive interview | favourable
I: not all techniques in the CI are viewed favourably E: in a UK police force survey only the 'report everything' and 'context reinstatment' components were frequently used . police also believe 'change perspective' mislead witnesses into speculating and guessing so did not use the componet C: although more info about a crime is recalled using the CI, some of this info may still be inaccurate

Memory (paper 1) (4 decks)

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