eyewitness testimony

Question 1

what is eyewitness testimony

Answer 1

where a person who was present at an event recalls what happened. It is often used as evidence in court but eyewitness can be unreliable

Question 2

factors affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony

Answer 2

misleading information
anxiety

Question 3

misleading information

Answer 3

accuracy of eyewitness testing can be altered after the event by exposing the witness to misleading information during post event discussion

Question 4

procedure and findings of misleading information

Answer 4

loft and parmer (1974) conducted a study.
45 participants were shown the same video clips of car crash. the particpients were divided into 5 groups and they were all asked the same question with different verb used each time.

The more intensive verbs rather than least influenced the participant to estimate a higher speed. This shows that leading can affect eyewitness testimony.

Question 5

anxiety

Answer 5

Another factor affecting eyewitness testimony is the witness’ anxiety levels. This is particularly relevant when witnesses are recalling anxiety-inducing events, such as violent crimes.

Question 6

deffenbacher

Answer 6

(1983)
suggested an inverted u hypothesis. Moderate amount of anxiety produces the most accurate. However, to little or too much anxiety reduces the accuracy of eyewitness testimony

Question 7

limitation of inverted u hypothesis

Answer 7

chrisianson and Hubinette found no relationship between anxiety and accuracy of testimony

Question 8

limitation of EWT

Answer 8

possible bias
Bekerian replicated the study by Lotus found that participents are not susceptible to misleading information if qs are presented in the same order as original data( locus presented the qs in a random order).
This suggesting the order of the qs has a significant effect.

Question 9

Improving the accuracy of eyewitness

Answer 9

The Cognitive interview
P - Change in perspective
R - report everything
O - change order
M - Mental reinstatement

Question 10

mental reinstatement

Answer 10

CL is when the interviewer encourages the interviewee to mentally recreate physical and psychological environment of the original incident.

Question 11

report everything

Answer 11

witness is encouraged to report all the details even if they seem irrelevant. As memories are interconnected, so may provide cues allowing to trigger further info.

Question 12

Change order

Answer 12

recalling the event in a different order, which would also increase the accuracy of testimony by reducing the effect of the witness’ schema

Question 13

Change Perspective

Answer 13

Recreate the event from anothers perspective, also increase the accuracy of eyewitness testimony by reducing the effect of the witness’ scheme

Question 14

A03:
strength of Cognitive Interview

Answer 14

Geiselman et al found that CI increased the accuracy and detail of recollection compared to standard police interviews

Question 15

A03:
limitation of Cognitive Interview

Answer 15

meta - analysis found that although CI increased the number of accurate details compared to standard Police Interviews, CI also increased the number of inacurate results