eyewitness testimony

Question 1

what are some factors that make eyewitness testimonies unreliable?

Answer 1

• anxiety/stress
• presence of a weapon
• suggestive questions
• misinformation effect
• race/age

Question 2

eyewitness testimony can be categorized into either _ or _ memory (explain)

Answer 2

• recall (reporting details of a previously witnessed event or person
• recognitions (determining whether a previously seen item or person is the same as what is currently being viewed

Question 3

what are the 3 dependent variables in eyewitness studies?

Answer 3

• recall of the crime
• recall of the culprit
• recognitions of the culprit

Question 4

a witness’ recall of the crime/culprit can be examined for what three aspects?

Answer 4

• the amount of info reported
• the type of info reported
• the accuracy of info reported

Question 5

what are the techniques/behavior of police during eyewitness interviews

Answer 5

• frequent interruptions of witnesses during open-ended recall
• use of very short, specific questions
• questions in an order that was inconsistent with the info the witness was providing at the time

Question 6

what is witness contamination/memory conformity?

Answer 6

• witnesses can be contaminated by information they may become aware of from other witnesses

Question 7

what is the misinformation effect?

Answer 7

• phenomenon where a witness who is presented with inaccurate information after an event will incorporate that misinformation in a subsequent recall task
• occurs most often in the presence of leading/suggestive questions

Question 8

name the three explanations (hypotheses) of the misinformation effect

Answer 8

• misinformation acceptance hypothesis
• source misattribution hypothesis
• memory impairment hypothesis

Question 9

explain the misinformation acceptance hypothesis

Answer 9

• incorrect info is provided bc the witness guessed what the officer wants the response to be
• knows the right answer but says mistake to please the officer

Question 10

explain the source misattribution effect

Answer 10

• where the witness has two memories, the original one and the misinformation
• witness cannot rmb where each memory originated or the source of each (so don’t know what is true n wht is false)

Question 11

explain the memory impairment hypothesis

Answer 11

the original memory no longer exists as it is replaced with the new, incorrect, information

Question 12

name the two procedures that can be used when it is difficult for the eyewitness to recall what happened

Answer 12

• hypnosis
• cognitive interview

Question 13

what are some downfalls of the hypnosis technique

Answer 13

• ppl under hypnosis will provide more details, but those details are just as likely to be accurate or inaccurate, and they are equally confident in their answers
• not admissible in court

Question 14

the cognitive interview is developed based on which two principles

Answer 14

• memory storage
• retrieval

Question 15

what is false memory syndrome?

Answer 15

term to describe client’s false beliefs that they were sexually abused as children, having no other memories of this abuse until they enter therapy to deal with some other problems such as depression or substance abuse

Question 16

what are the five criteria to consider when trying to determine the veracity of a recovered memory?

Answer 16

• age of the complainant at the time of the alleged abuse
• techniques used to recover memory
• similarity of reports across interview sessions
• motivation for recall
• time elapsed since the alleged abuse

Question 17

what are the most common descriptors for recall of the culprit?

Answer 17

sex and height

Question 18

what are the descriptors that are difficult to report (less accuracy)?

Answer 18

• weight
• eye colour
• type of footwear

Question 19

what tool might be helpful for helping eyewitness recall a culprit

Answer 19

• using a standard person to compare the culprit to
• ex: was the culprit taller or shorter than this person?

Question 20

name the ways in which a witness’s recognition memory can be tested

Answer 20

• video surveillance records
• voice identification
• live lineups or photo array

Question 21

what are distractors in a lineup?

Answer 21

members that are innocent for the crime in question

Question 22

explain the two strategies used for distractors in a lineup

Answer 22

• similarity to suspect strategy: matches lineup members to the suspect’s appearance, esp if there’s a standout carac
• match to description strategy: distractors are matched only on the items that the witness provided in their description

Question 23

why are photo arrays preferable to live lineups?

Answer 23

• less time consuming to put tgt
• portable
• no right to counsel for the suspect
• photo are static (no need to worry abt suspect behaviour)
• reduced anxiety for eyewitness

Question 24

what are the two lineup presentation format and the type of judgement they entail (explain)

Answer 24

• simultaneous lineup: presenting all members at one time to the witness
  
  • relative judgment: witness compares
    lineup members to one another and the
    person who looks most like perpetrator is
    identified
• sequential lineup: presenting members one at a time, no repeats
  
  • absolute judgment: the witness must make
    a decision as to whether the lineup member
    is the perpetrator before seeing the next
    member

Question 25

are several identifications better than one?

Answer 25

- in the laboratory, yes but not realistic irl

Question 26

what is the cross-race effect?

Answer 26

ppl rmb faces of their own race with greater accuracy than they rmb faces of other races

Question 27

what are the two hypotheses that explain weapon focus? explain

Answer 27

- cue-utilization hypothesis: when emotional arousal increases, attentional capacity decreases (central details like weapon is encoded and not peripheral things like face of criminal) - unusualness hypothesis: weapons are unusual and this attracts a witness's attention