Only the necessary information is provided. Meaning context is left out. Hall and Player found that 52% of those in the high context felt that they were affected by the context given.
ACE-V structured approach to analysis
Using a step by step process. so that all forensic analysis’s use the same standardised procedures, to ensure consistency. this removes contextual bias.
How is Ace-V good?
removes contextual biases
two conclusions of hall and players study
emotional context affects fingerprint experts analysts but this does not have any actual effect on their final decisions.
the severity of a case affects a fingerprint experts analysis but this does not have an affect on their final decision
describe another study in this area
Dror et al (2005) investigated cognitive biases in a study involving university students. participants were presented with either good or poor quality finger-prints and exposed to low or high emotional stimuli related to either theft or murder. results indicated that emotional context influenced decisions leading to a higher likelihood of identifications especially with poor quality finger-prints
result from Hall and Players study
52% from the high context group felt that they had been affected by the information compared to 6% in the low context group
methodological issues
ethnocentric - London, UK, metropolitan police - not generalisable to other police forces
ecological validity - a realistic task
reliability - replicable procedure
practical use - helps experts to do their jobs
generalisable - to other experts
issues/debates
determinism - affected by existing cognitive biases
usefulness - offers solutions for removing bias (standardised procedures)
holistic - many factors influence bias (doesn't oversimplify) (more valid)
psychology as a science - single and double blind practices as well as using controlled/standardised procedures
