Eyewitness Testimony and Memory Biases By Cara Laney and Elizabeth F. Loftus. Reed College, University of California, Irvine. Eyewitnesses can provide very compelling legal testimony, but rather than recording experiences flawlessly, their memories are susceptible to a variety of errors and biases Nov 15, · Essay on modern technology for students writing topic the essay water? uk will be save essay! testimony life Eyewitness better future? essay in opinion essay about mountaineering or mountain climbing romeo and juliet final exam essay essay ww2, extended essay questions english. Ang aking pangarap essay, dunkirk victory or defeat essay Oct 17, · Eyewitness testimony is critically important to the justice system. Indeed, it is necessary in all criminal trials to reconstruct facts from past events, and eyewitnesses are commonly very important to this effort. Psychological scientists, however, have challenged many of the assumptions of the legal system and the general public regarding the
Eyewitness Testimony - Psychology - Oxford Bibliographies
SUGGESTED LESSON PLAN Eyewitness testimony is historically among the most convincing forms of evidence in criminal trials e, eyewitness testimony essay. That iconic moment when a testifying witness points to the defendant as the perpetrator of the crime is iconic, and has been dramatized often on television and movies. It is easy to understand why it is so convincing.
We trust our own perception and experience. Eyewitness testimony is more fallible than many people assume. The advent of DNA analysis in the late s revolutionized forensic science, providing an unprecedented level of accuracy about the identity of actual perpetrators versus innocent people falsely accused of crime.
DNA testing led to the review of many settled cases. According to the Innocence Projectpeople who had been convicted and sentenced to death since have been exonerated eyewitness testimony essay DNA evidence. More specifically, eyewitness testimony essay, the assumption that memory provides an accurate recording eyewitness testimony essay experience, eyewitness testimony essay, much like a video camera, is incorrect.
Memory evolved to give us a personal sense of identity and to guide our actions. We are biased to notice and exaggerate some experiences and to minimize or overlook others. Memory is malleable. Why the Myth Persists So why, despite all the news about misidentifications and wrongful convictions, do people continue to put such profound faith in eyewitness testimony? Several reasons are likely. First, in popular media and literatary depictions, detectives for example, Sherlock Holmes and witnesses possess highly detailed and accurate memories.
Second, crimes and accidents are unusual, eyewitness testimony essay, often stressful, and even terrifying events, and people believe those events therefore should automatically be memorable.
In fact, eyewitness testimony essay, stress and terror can actually inhibit memory formation, and memories continue to be constructed after the originating event on the basis of information learned afterward. People underestimate how quickly forgetting can take place. Third, eyewitnesses are often sincere and confident, which makes them persuasive but not necessarily correct.
Memory distortion often happens unconsciously. Witnesses truly believe their version of events, no matter how inaccurate they may be. Finally, confirmation bias is likely at play.
People notice the times when they accurately remembered some person or detail in their past, but tend to forget eyewitness testimony essay times when their memory failed them. With the prevalence of video cameras capturing most anything we do, it is easier than ever to check memories against actual recordings of events.
You might ask students if they ever compared their memory of an event to an actual recording of the incident and discovered discrepancies. If so, this might reduce confirmation bias. It creates stories based on those experiences. The stories are sometimes uncannily accurate, sometimes completely fictional, and often a mixture of the two; and they can change to suit the situation. Eyewitness testimony is a potent form of evidence for convicting the accused, but it is subject to unconscious memory distortions and biases even among the most confident of witnesses.
So memory can be remarkably accurate or remarkably inaccurate, eyewitness testimony essay. Without objective evidence, the two are indistinguishable. How reliable is eyewitness testimony? National Science Foundation Sometimes, we can even build false recollections about people we only think we saw. How reliable is your memory? A TED talk by Elizabeth Loftus Psychological scientist Elizabeth Loftus studies memories.
A two-part 60 Minutes news story focusing on the case of Ronald Cotton and Jennifer Thompson, one of the best documented cases of false conviction. Extensive interviews with the people involved in the case as well as Elizabeth Loftus and Gary Wells. Why Science Tells Us Eyewitness testimony essay to Rely on Eyewitness Accounts.
Scientific American Mind. Website of Dr. Gary Wellswho has done extensive research on the validity of police line-ups. His website is a wealth of information, links, and videos. Eyewitness Testimony and Memory Biases.
Teaching unit for Noba Project by Cara Laney and Elizabeth F. Police Are Changing Lineups to Avoid False IDs. Michael Ollove, Pew Charitable Trust, Posted July 13, Benton, T, eyewitness testimony essay.
Eyewitness memory is still not common sense: comparing jurors, judges and law enforcement to eyewitness experts, eyewitness testimony essay. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 20, eyewitness testimony essay, — doi: Hastorf, Eyewitness testimony essay. They saw a game; a case study.
The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 49 1 eyewitness testimony essay, Loftus, E. Zaragoza, M. Misinformation Effects and the Suggestibility of Eyewitness Memory.
Hayne Eds. Mahwah, NJ, US: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, eyewitness testimony essay. DAY 1 An Introduction to Remembering Assign Activity 1 below before the class meeting. Students may bring responses to class or post them online. Begin by posing the myth, shown on Slide 1 of the accompanying PowerPoint slides. Eyewitness Testimony slides. Next discuss the assignment. Have students discuss their responses.
Different people can see the same event and come away with very different memories. This is a good entry point to discuss the nature of long-term memory and how it is both constructive at encoding and reconstructive at retrieval. The instructor can discuss work on the misinformation effect and eyewitness testimony here. Schema theory can also be discussed. Slides 5 and 6 review the myth and the reality of memory. The goal of this day is to give an overview of how memory works.
There are various ways of organizing the memory unit: historically from Ebbinghaus to current models, or eyewitness testimony essay on a particular model such as Information processing almost 50 years out of date, eyewitness testimony essay still a powerful way of organizing concepts.
Select eyewitness testimony essay organization that makes it easiest for you to discuss key memory concepts. DAY 3 Applications of Memory Research This session can be used to finish the overview of memory that began eyewitness testimony essay Day 2. Use Activity 3 see below to show how quickly and easily memory can be distorted. The balance of the class time can be spent discussing applications of memory research.
Possible topics are listed in the concept map on Slide 7. All of these topics have important implications, eyewitness testimony essay. Students often appreciate learning how to leverage memory research to improve their study habits because it directly relates to their current experience. Instructors may want eyewitness testimony essay refer students to my video series on how to study effectively www. Concept Checks The following formative assessment questions allow both you and the students to gauge their level of understanding of the unit.
Be sure to have students respond individually so both you and they can see how well the class understands the concepts. Then they can discuss as pairs or as a class. There are a variety of high tech clickers and low-tech fingers methods that can be used to administer these concept check questions. How Bias and Expectations Shape Perception and Memory For this assignment, you will listen to an excerpt from a podcast that tells the story of the most famous football game in psychology.
What makes it famous? You will have to listen to find out, eyewitness testimony essay, but it is directly relevant to our next unit.
Below is the link to the podcast. Start and end at the designated times. Of course, you are welcome to listen to the second half as well if you are interested.
Reflection questions Write a paragraph in reflection to each question. Bring your reflections with you to class. We will be discussing them. Eyewitness Memory Activity This activity introduces students to the challenge of accurate eyewitness testimony and the misinformation effect. The students will watch a video of a bicyclist assisting police in chasing a thief.
They will then be asked questions about the video. Some of the questions contain misleading post-event information MPI. Then, students are asked about the presence or absence of certain details in the video, some of which are present and some of which are absent.
Factors affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony [AQA ALevel]
, time: 9:56Eyewitness memory - Wikipedia
Oct 17, · Eyewitness testimony is critically important to the justice system. Indeed, it is necessary in all criminal trials to reconstruct facts from past events, and eyewitnesses are commonly very important to this effort. Psychological scientists, however, have challenged many of the assumptions of the legal system and the general public regarding the Sep 05, · Although an eyewitness’ memory of an incident may be obtained through hypnosis, it is usually unacceptable in court. To better understand the role of eyewitness testimony in court proceedings, let us take a look at its pros and cons. List of Pros of Eyewitness Testimony. 1. Eyewitness testimony can influence jury decision Eyewitness testimony is a legal term. It refers to an account given by people of an event they have witnessed. For example they may be required to give a description at a trial of a robbery or a road accident someone has seen. This includes identification of perpetrators, details of the crime scene etc
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