Eyewitness Testimony II Flashcards
reliability
the experiment gives consistent results
validity
measuring what we intend to measure
ecological validity
can be transferred to the real world
schemas
the way we code information
expectations of a witness
- influence testimony
- see what you expect to see
propensity evidence
just because someone offended once does not mean they are guilty of offending the same way again
post-event information
describes the effect of suggestive and misleading information that is presented after an effect has occurred
the effect of misleading information on children
children can give reliable evidence when not subjected to misleading information
ceci, ross, & toglia (1987
- 187 children asked to decide the likelibility of a story for kids younger than them
- 2 days later the children were asked to engage in a recognition task
- results showed that recall was impared when misleading post-event information was given
co-witness discussion
witnesses discussing what they have seen prior to police attendance/interviews
paterson & kemp (2006)
- 86% of witnesses indicated they discussed the crimes they observed but only to ensure they would provide accurate information
- the discussion has the potential to improve eyewitness testimony but there is a risk the witnesses will misremember the source of the information or that post-event information is inaccurate
skagerberg & wright (2008)
- found 58% of witnesses discussed the crime - most commonly discussed the details of the crime itself and the perpetrator details
- importance of separating witnesses before interviewing
perspective bias
the perspective you observe an event from impacts on your perception of it
post-event information - language use
language use can alter eyewitness memory and introduce confabulation
loftus & palmer (1974)
estimates of the speed of a car crash varied depending on the wording of the question (e.g. crashed/bumped/smashed)
factors that influence susceptibility a person will be to post-event information errors
cognitive factors, social factors
cognitive factors
- how good the memory of the event is
- expectations of the event
social factors
- credibility of the source
- power and social attractiveness of the source
memory co-existence hypothesis
people have two memories in the memory system - 1 is the actual memory and 2 is the post-event information. because the post-event information is storied last it is likely to be retrieved first
memory over-riding hypothesis
post-event information completely overrides the original memory, thereby creating a completely new memory
source misattribution theory
- failure to attribute retrieved information to the correct source
- can result in confusion differentiating between details of different events
- big issue with children witnesses
