L4 Eyewitness Testimony

Question 1

Eyewitness testimony

Answer 1

legal term referring to an account given by people of an event theyve witnessed

-more accurate ovr fingerprints, polyg or handwriting
-ppl may view same scene dif (familiarity, line of sight, positions)
-more accuarate from bystander than victim (and time (usually little) and viewing conditions (ie dark)

Question 2

Pros

Answer 2

-Proves crime was commited
-supports case filed
-gives event sequency
-if after crime, memory is fresh/reliable
-jurors believe heavily in eyew testimony (find it believable)

Question 3

Cons

Answer 3

-can put innocents in jail and cause emo and psyc distress (if false)
-criminal can get freddom
-wasted time (if false)
-psych find it extremely unreliable as memory can be distorted

Question 4

Memory (attenuation)

Answer 4

eyew relies on storing + recalling of memory
-storing memory (attention, encoding, short and long term memory storage)
-witn must complete all three stages of memory processing (acquisition, noticing and attending; storage, storing and retrival, recalling stored infor)

Question 5

Selective attention

Answer 5

directing our awareness to relevant stimuli while ignoring others (Can influ ones decisions as well)

Question 6

Broadbents filter theory

Answer 6

people dont remember the context of the unattended ear
-filtering is early on (charact, pitch, etc)

cocktail party effect
-att switches based on context of unattended ear

dichotic listening test
-2 sets of no in one ear each, people repeated ear by ear, able to filter one at a sequential time

there’s also treisman where meaning switches from one ear to the other even when were told not to
-focus on what catches us the most naturally, identify contents of unattended messages still and process meanings of both

Question 7

Line ups

Answer 7

Use lineups wherever practical

1 make sure everyone in lineup resembles suspect descript
2 tell witn suspect may or may not be in the lineup
3 dont always have suspect in lineup
4 show pics sequentially not simultaneously
5 have photos of ppl and their voices
6 try to minimize time between crime and suspect identification

-minimize suggestions and have double blind admin (neither witn or admin know)
-have at least 8 persons

Question 8

Facial composites

Answer 8

Art of possible suspect
-scratches
-special features
-witness can help artists

Question 9

Causes of distortions

Answer 9

• cross race effect; recogn members of same race faces more accurately than cross race faces
• post event info; what happens after may distort fragile memories
  -confirmation bias; direct influence of desires on beliefs (when ppl would like a certain idea to be true they end up believing it is)
  -weapon focus; eyew pay much attention to some crucial aspect of the sit (ie the weapon) and ignore all other details
  -unconscious transference; misidentifying a familiar but innocent face as belonging to criminal
  -verbal overshadowing; reduction in memory for recognition of faces (Especially when verbal descriptors are provided)