key question Flashcards
what is the cognitive key question
how reliable is eyewitness testimony
what is the AO1 for the key question
- refers to recalled memory of a witness to a crime or incident
- recored at police station
- used in court as evidence
- outcome of many trials dependant on accounts of crimes provided by EW
- if unreliable some wrongly convicted
- actual perpetraitor free to commit more
- innocence project identified that 72% of wrongful convictions dues to wrong EWT
- society will lose faith in criminal justice system if people are convicted wrongly
- Ronald Cotton served 10 years in prisson eventually exonerated due to DNA
how does the MSM say EWT are reliable
EW would be rehearsing event and therefore encoded into LTM which has unlimited duration and can be retrieved at any time
how do real life event prove EWT are reliable
yuille and cutshall found ppts were syill able to give accurate accounds of crime 4-5 months after witnessing
how does the cognitive interview say EWT are reliable
allows ppts to freely describe what they saw and do not ask many questions, may ask ppts to give accounts from different perspectives to get an accurate description
how does weapon focus say EWT are unrealiable
weapon said to attract attention so focus is on weapon only rather than events, supported by Pickel
how do leading questions show that EWT are unreliable
when question is worded in a way which ppts believe there is a correct answer
supported by loftus who found that ppts shown a car crash and asked how fast it was going when it smashed gave higher speed than hit
how does reconstructive theory say EWT are unreliable
when individual witnesses an even they may not remeber all details to describe full event so rely on schemas to fill in gaps
