Subdecks (1)

Cards (261)

  • Eyewitness testimony (EWT)
    An account of an event or crime that was seen by an observer firsthand
  • Eyewitness testimony may be unreliable, and affected by factors such as anxiety and post event information
  • Post event information
    Any information supplied to an eyewitness after the event that may affect their recall
  • Post event information
    • Leading questions
    • Postevent discussion
  • Weapon focus
    When eye-witnesses attention is drawn towards the weapon a perpetrator is holding, which results in them being less able to recall other details of a crime
  • Post event information refers to any information that arrives after an event that may affect or distort eyewitnesses' memory of what happened
  • Human memory is reconstructive - memory doesn't record events in exact detail, like a camera
  • A person's ability to recall the events of a crime may be based more on their schema of the event than what actually occurred
  • Effort after meaning
    Bartlett's term for how memory fits memories within pre-existing frameworks of expectations and past knowledge
  • Post event discussion
    1. Witnesses talk to each other following the event
    2. Accuracy of eyewitness accounts depends on this
  • 71% of participants referred to details they could not have seen in the video and must have picked up as part of the discussion
  • Leading questions
    Questions or statements that lead a person to a specific answer
  • Leading questions can trigger schemas and provide post event information that affects eyewitness recall
  • Anxiety
    Stress can affect the way eyewitnesses encode memories at the time of the crime
  • Moderate levels of anxiety are helpful to memory, but extreme anxiety is associated with a decline in recall
  • Weapon focus
    The brain's natural tendency to zoom in on a weapon as the main source of stress, leading to forgetting or misremembering other details
  • Tunnel theory
    Noticing a weapon produces a form of selective attention which excludes or ignores any other competing bits of information
  • The effect of leading questions has been demonstrated under laboratory conditions
  • Leading questions

    • Participants who heard the word "smash" gave higher estimates of speed compared to "contacted"
    • Participants who heard "smashed" were more likely to report seeing broken glass
  • Evidence from real crimes does not support the effects of leading questions after weapon focus (anxiety)
  • Witnesses to a real-life shooting produced accurate accounts despite the inclusion of leading questions
  • The effects of leading questions and weapon focus may be less pronounced when applied to real-life events
  • Weapon focus explanation
    • Supported by experimental evidence
    • Participants in control condition were better able to identify the man they saw compared to weapon condition
  • Weapon focus may be related to surprise as much as anxiety
  • Eyewitness research has led to the introduction of social framework evidence in legal cases
  • Psychologists may be called upon to provide context to juries on the unreliability of eyewitness testimony
  • Laboratory studies of eyewitness testimony exercise a high level of control but can never replicate the anxiety of a real life event
  • Research needs to include real-world observations to support the findings of laboratory studies