Identifying the Perpetrator

Question 1

As emphasised by Zajac, we are not very good at identifying strangers, especially when they are another ethnicity. True or false?

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Encoding and storage are ____ variables:

Answer 2

Estimator

(Variables that affect how an eyewitness remembers details about a crime or perpetrator.)

Question 3

Retrieval is a ____ variable.

Answer 3

System

(Variables that affect how evidence is elicited from eyewitnesses, by the criminal justice system)

Question 4

The phenomenon in which we fail to distinguish between other ethnicities is called:

Answer 4

Cross-race bias

Question 5

Age and ethnicity are examples of:

Answer 5

Stable witness factors

Question 6

Factors about a person that can change from day to day, such as alcohol consumption or tiredness, are called:

Answer 6

Malleable witness factors

Question 7

Our ability to remember more distinctive faces when identifying a perpetrator is an example of a:

Answer 7

Stable target factor

(Distinctive faces are not easily changed)

Question 8

A perpetrator using disguises to avoid identification is an example of a:

Answer 8

Malleable target factor

(Disguises are an easy and resourceful way for perpetrators to change their appearance and avoid being identified.)

Question 9

According to Shepherd & Ellis (1996), eyewitnesses are most likely to describe which feature about a person?

Answer 9

Hairstyles.

(This can be problematic when identifying a perpetrator as hairstyles are not stable and can be frequently changed.)

Question 10

According to Shepherd & Ellis (1996), the eyes, nose and face shape are more or less likely to be described in eyewitness interviews?

Answer 10

Less

(This is problematic because they are stable factors and are not likely to change, compared to features like hairstyles, which are most identified by eyewitnesses but also most likely to change.)

Question 11

Light levels, visibility, the presence of a weapon and the seriousness of a crime are all ____ factors:

Answer 11

Environmental

Question 12

Delay, misinformation and verbal overshadowing are all examples of ____ factors:

Answer 12

Post-event

Question 13

Eyewitnesses are not likely to do well at facial recognition tasks after verbally describing what someone looks like. This phenomenon is known as:

Answer 13

Verbal overshadowing

Question 14

The way eye witness evidence is elicited, thus making them more likely to misidentify someone, demonstrates a problem with system or estimator variables?

Answer 14

System variables

Question 15

Verbal descriptions, facial composites, mugshot books and line-ups are all examples of ___ variables:

Answer 15

System.

Question 16

We are better at remembering broad, holistic facial compositions than we are the individual components of a person’s face. True or false?

Answer 16

True

(From lecture notes: the construction of facial composites is at odds with the way in which we process and remember faces - either feature-based or configural.)

Question 17

Which type of facial composite is supported by the idea that IDs should be made according to the way our brain processes faces?

Answer 17

Caricatures

(Research suggests that each of us has an ‘average face’ that we think of when thinking about people. Therefore we do not encode faces based on familiarity, but rather how they differ from the average face; because caricatures accentuate distinct features, it is suggested they could be an appropriate alternative to other facial composites.)

Question 18

Mugshot books as a method of identification have been criticised for two reasons: the first being that they can contaminate subsequent ID performance, and the second being that witness knowledge of the photos being of offenders might decrease ID threshold. This signifies a problem with estimator or system variables?

Answer 18

System

(Witness memories of what the target looks like can and often are influenced by the methods used to retrieve these memories. These methods are put in place by the system.)

Question 19

Which system variable was responsible for the false conviction and sentencing of Ronald Cotton in 1984?

Answer 19

Line-ups

(Cotton was identified via photo line-up, then again at a physical line-up.

Question 20

If a line-up is target-present, this means the witness should (accept/reject) the target:

Answer 20

Accept

Question 21

If a line-up is target-absent, this means the witness should (accept/reject) the target:

Answer 21

Reject

Question 22

Eyewitnesses rarely pick out a target in a target-absent study, even if the targets and foils look identical. True or false?

Answer 22

False

(Even in target-absent studies, eyewitnesses usually still choose a target because they don’t tend to consider that the target is not in the line-up. Target-absent line-ups often lead to an increase in false alarms because of this.)

Question 23

If a foil is identified in a line-up to be the perpetrator based on their perceived similarities, which cognitive technique has the witness used?

Answer 23

Relative judgment

Question 24

In Memon et al.’s (2002) study, approximately 90% of participants expected the target to be present or absent?

Answer 24

Present

Question 25

As demonstrated by Zajac and Karageorge (2009) children were much better at rejecting a target if the target was indeed not there; this factor was controlled by which condition group?

Answer 25

Wild card

Question 26

Zajac and Karageorge (2009) demonstrated which system bias in their study?

Answer 26

Instruction bias

Question 27

The system variable that involved presenting suspects to eyewitnesses is:

Answer 27

Presentation bias

Question 28

Sequential line-ups are beneficial because witnesses know exactly how many targets are about to be presented. True or false?

Answer 28

False

(Sequential line-ups are good because witnesses DON’T know how many are involved in the line-up; this decreases relative judgment and results in absolute judgment.)

Question 29

The phenomenon that has occurred when an innocent target is wrongfully identified as the perpetrator is called:

Answer 29

The backfire effect

Question 30

Wells et al. (2000) explained that foils should be chosen based on which system variable?

Answer 30

Verbal descriptions

Question 31

The phenomenon in which police behaviour influences a witness’s ability to rightfully identify a perpetrator is called:

Answer 31

Investigator bias

Question 32

Measurable products that correlate with ID accuracy in a non-causal way are:

Answer 32

Postdiction variables

Question 33

As demonstrated by Phillips et al.(1999), which study design (single or double-blind) can be used to safeguard against investigator bias in sequential line-ups?

Answer 33

Double-blind

(The investigator knowing the suspect affects sequential line-ups because they tend to give subconscious cues to witnesses when hearing their responses to each photos.)

Question 34

Confidence, response latency and decision processes are all which type of variable?

Answer 34

Postdiction variable

Question 35

According to the confidence-accuracy calibration theory, confidence tends to increase or decrease over time?

Answer 35

Increase

(Most people tend to be over-confident when selecting the perpetrator; this confidence is substantiated by positive feedback from police, and unfortunately also inflates retrospective reports of confidence.)

Question 36

On average, how fast do witnesses identify their target in a line-up?

Answer 36

Within 10-12 seconds (Dunning & Perretta, 2002.)