Eyewitness Testimony Flashcards

Question

Loftus Weapon Effect Conclusion

Answer 1

This demonstrated the 'weapon focused phenomenon' as the participants focused on the weapon and were less likely to recall the person accurately. It was concluded that a weapon focuses the attention and narrows the focus of attention, resulting in accurate central details but less accurate peripheral details..

Answer 2

To find if anxiety effects eyewitness testimony Exposed to one of two conditions: 1. Overheard a low key discussion in a lab about an equipment failure. A person them emerged from the laboratory holding a pen in grease covered hands. 2. Overheard a heated and hostile debate between people in the lab. After the sound of breaking glass and crashing chairs. A man came out of the lab holding a paper knife covered in blood. Participants were then asked to recall the person from 50 photos.. 49% correctly recalled the confederate from 50 photos in the condition where the person emerged holding a pen in greasy hands. 33% correctly recalled the confederate from 50 photos when the person emerged holding a paper knife covered in blood. This demonstrated the 'weapon focused phenomenon' as the participants focused on the weapon and were less likely to recall the person accurately. It was concluded that a weapon focuses the attention and narrows the focus of attention, resulting in accurate central details but less accurate peripheral details..

Answer 3

Participants were allocated to one of two conditions. 1. Watched a violent short film where a boy was shot in the head or 2. Watched a non-violent short film of a crime Participants were less accurate in recall when they saw the violent short film than those who watched the non-violent movie. This demonstrates support for Loftus (1797) as it shows that when people witness anxiety provoking situations they are less likely to recall accurately

Answer 4

They conducted research using 110 real life eyewitnesses who had witnessed one of 22 bank robberies. Some were onlookers and some were bank clerks who had been directly threatened by the robbers. It was found that: * victims were more accurate than onlookers in their descrpition of the bank robbers. *There recall lasted even after 15 months. This demonstrates that anxiety did not make recall inaccurate and in some cases may have made recall more accurate.

Answer 5

The participants in Loftus (1979) were deceived as they were led to believe it was a real situation, this it may have caused psychological harm to the participant. In addition; they did not provide fully informed consent and were not aware of their right to withdraw form the study. The researchers attempted to over come this by fully debriefing participants at the end of the study and allowing them the right to withdraw.

Answer 6

One weakness is that the majority of research into anxiety and eyewitness testimony is laboratory based. This means that the tasks may lack mundane realism. The tasks are not usually expected on real life, for instance you would not be normally asked to recall a short film. This means that the participants may not be focused on the details as they would be in a real life crime. In addition to this laboratory research is conducted in an artificial situation, this means that it may lack ecological validity. Therefore the findings cannot be generalised outside of the laboratory setting.

Answer 7

The Cognitive Interview (CI) is a procedure used by police to help eyewitnesses recall information more accurately. The procedure involves a series of memory retrieval and communication techniques.

Answer 8

Context Reinstatement (CR) Report Everything (RE) Recall From Changing Perspective (CP) Recall In Reverse Order (RO)

Answer 9

Mentally Reinstate the context of the incidient, recall the scene, what you were feeling/ thinking.

Answer 10

Report every detail even if you think it is trivial.

Answer 11

Imagine the incident from someone elses perspective/ viewpoint

Answer 12

Try reporting the incident in a different order moving from most recent to start of incident

Answer 13

Geiselman (1985) set out to investigate the effectiveness of the cognitive interview.

Answer 14

Participants viewed a film of a violent crime and, after 48 hours, were interviewed by a policeman using one of three methods: the cognitive interview; a standard interview used by the Los Angeles Police; or an interview using hypnosis. The number of facts accurately recalled and the number of errors made were recorded.

Answer 15

The average number of correctly recalled facts for the cognitive interview was 41.2, for hypnosis it was 38.0 and for the standard interview it was 29.4. There was no significant difference in the number of errors in each condition..

Answer 16

The cognitive interview leads to better memory for events, with witnesses able to recall more relevant information compared with a traditional interview method.

Answer 17

Geiselman (1985) set out to investigate the effectiveness of the cognitive interview. Participants viewed a film of a violent crime and, after 48 hours, were interviewed by a policeman using one of three methods: the cognitive interview; a standard interview used by the Los Angeles Police; or an interview using hypnosis. The number of facts accurately recalled and the number of errors made were recorded. The average number of correctly recalled facts for the cognitive interview was 41.2, for hypnosis it was 38.0 and for the standard interview it was 29.4. There was no significant difference in the number of errors in each condition.. The cognitive interview leads to better memory for events, with witnesses able to recall more relevant information compared with a traditional interview method.

Answer 18

found that witnesses reported greater detail in their accounts of crimes when American detectives had been trained to use the technique. - The technique is more structured than the standard technique, and it seems appropriate for crime-related interviews to be very thorough in order to gather the detail required for a useful testimony.

Answer 19

found that witnesses recalled more incorrect information when interviewed with the cognitive interview compared to the standard interview technique, perhaps because more detailed recall increases the chances of making mistakes. - The interview is far more time-consuming than the standard interview.

Answer 20

A number of studies have investigated the effectiveness of the Cognitive Interview Schedule. Bekerian and Dennet (1993) reviewed 27 studies and found that in ALL cases, the Cognitive Interview Schedule was more accurate than other interview procedures. In 2003, Holliday used a modified version of the Cognitive Interview Schedule for interviewing children. Two groups of children, aged 4-5 and 9-10 were shown a 5 minute video of a child’s birthday party. The next day all the children were interviewed about what they had seen, using either a standard interview or the `Cognitive Interview. Findings show that more correct details were recalled using the Cognitive Interview

Answer 21

Time Consuming In order to carry out the Cognitive Interview Schedule, you need trained and skilled people, and it can be time consuming to carry out