Eye Witness Testimony: A Case Study
Eye Witness Testimony
Refers to the use of eye or ear witnesses in court or in police statements about the identity of someone who has committed a crime.
Key Study into EWT –
Factors that Influence EWT * Anxiety * Unpleasant emotional state where we fear that something bad is about to happen usually accompanied by physiological arousal (pumping heart) * Deffenbacher – MA of studies found considerable support for a negative correlation between anxiety and EWT meaning the more anxious the less accurate their testimonies were. However this study lacked mundane realism. * Christianson and Hubinnette questioned real witnesses to robberies and compared those who were involved (a hostage etc) to those that were not involved (onlookers) and …show more content…
found those that were involved and therefore had higher anxiety had better recall than those that just witnessed it. This study did not lack mundane realism as the participants were real witnesses. * Weapon Focus Effect * Linked to anxiety – if there is a weapon involved is attention driven only to weapon?
* Loftus et al – participants heard an argument then saw a man in a pen stained shirt with a pen in is hand or a man in a blood stained shirt and a paper knife in his hand. Accuracy was better for group 1 showing that attention is drawn to the weapon thus decreasing the accuracy of EWT. * Loftus et al also monitored eye movements and found this effect. * Age * Yarmey found when recall was immediate there was no difference in the accuracy of EWT in older and younger participants. * Memon similarly found that when recall was immediate there was no difference in accuracy of recall however when recall was a week later the older participants were significantly less accurate in their EWT. * Anastasi and Rhodes – own age bias – we are more likely to be accurate in our EWT’s if the person is in our own age group.
Describe and evaluate a study into eye witness testimony.
What is a leading question?
Why is this a leading question ‘did you see the broken glass at the scene?’?
Describe findings from studies that look into the effect of age on
EWT.
Describe findings from studies that look into the effect of anxiety on EWT.
Discuss factors that could affect EWT.
Cognitive Interview – Fisher and Geiselman * Developed following a review of literature on memory and EWT * F & G found that people remember more due to certain ways of being asked and developed the Ci to encompass those findings.
* It has four main components: * Report everything – interviewer encourages the reporting of every single detail of the event, even those that seem irrelevant * Mental reinstatement of the original context – the interview encourages the interviewee to recreate the environment emotions etc. in their head * Changing the order – the interviewer may ask for the reporting of the event to go from the end to the beginning etc. * Changing the perspective – encouraging the recalling of the event from other peoples perspectives (other witnesses at the scene etc.)
Research and Evaluation * Kohnken et al * Meta-analysis (MA) of studies comparing CI to normal interviews found a 34% increase in accurate information gained. * However most of these were lab studies so not particularly linked to the real world. * Stein and Memon * Effectiveness of CI in Brazil (developing country). * They found a significant rise in the amount of correct information obtained from witnesses. * Use by Police: * Police do not use all of the components, mainly using the report everything and mentally reinstate context only. * More time consuming than normal interviews. * Training required
Main differences between CI and normal Interviews: * Time they take * Accuracy and amount of recall * Four components / different routes into memory * Amount and speciality of training required
What is the difference between a cognitive interview and a normal interview?
Outline and evaluate the use of the cognitive interview.
Outline the cognitive interview.
Evaluate the use of a cognitive interview.
How can the accuracy of EWT be improved when being interviewed?
Refers to the use of eye or ear witnesses in court or in police statements about the identity of someone who has committed a crime.
Key Study into EWT –
Factors that Influence EWT * Anxiety * Unpleasant emotional state where we fear that something bad is about to happen usually accompanied by physiological arousal (pumping heart) * Deffenbacher – MA of studies found considerable support for a negative correlation between anxiety and EWT meaning the more anxious the less accurate their testimonies were. However this study lacked mundane realism. * Christianson and Hubinnette questioned real witnesses to robberies and compared those who were involved (a hostage etc) to those that were not involved (onlookers) and …show more content…
found those that were involved and therefore had higher anxiety had better recall than those that just witnessed it. This study did not lack mundane realism as the participants were real witnesses. * Weapon Focus Effect * Linked to anxiety – if there is a weapon involved is attention driven only to weapon?
* Loftus et al – participants heard an argument then saw a man in a pen stained shirt with a pen in is hand or a man in a blood stained shirt and a paper knife in his hand. Accuracy was better for group 1 showing that attention is drawn to the weapon thus decreasing the accuracy of EWT. * Loftus et al also monitored eye movements and found this effect. * Age * Yarmey found when recall was immediate there was no difference in the accuracy of EWT in older and younger participants. * Memon similarly found that when recall was immediate there was no difference in accuracy of recall however when recall was a week later the older participants were significantly less accurate in their EWT. * Anastasi and Rhodes – own age bias – we are more likely to be accurate in our EWT’s if the person is in our own age group.
Describe and evaluate a study into eye witness testimony.
What is a leading question?
Why is this a leading question ‘did you see the broken glass at the scene?’?
Describe findings from studies that look into the effect of age on
EWT.
Describe findings from studies that look into the effect of anxiety on EWT.
Discuss factors that could affect EWT.
Cognitive Interview – Fisher and Geiselman * Developed following a review of literature on memory and EWT * F & G found that people remember more due to certain ways of being asked and developed the Ci to encompass those findings.
* It has four main components: * Report everything – interviewer encourages the reporting of every single detail of the event, even those that seem irrelevant * Mental reinstatement of the original context – the interview encourages the interviewee to recreate the environment emotions etc. in their head * Changing the order – the interviewer may ask for the reporting of the event to go from the end to the beginning etc. * Changing the perspective – encouraging the recalling of the event from other peoples perspectives (other witnesses at the scene etc.)
Research and Evaluation * Kohnken et al * Meta-analysis (MA) of studies comparing CI to normal interviews found a 34% increase in accurate information gained. * However most of these were lab studies so not particularly linked to the real world. * Stein and Memon * Effectiveness of CI in Brazil (developing country). * They found a significant rise in the amount of correct information obtained from witnesses. * Use by Police: * Police do not use all of the components, mainly using the report everything and mentally reinstate context only. * More time consuming than normal interviews. * Training required
Main differences between CI and normal Interviews: * Time they take * Accuracy and amount of recall * Four components / different routes into memory * Amount and speciality of training required
What is the difference between a cognitive interview and a normal interview?
Outline and evaluate the use of the cognitive interview.
Outline the cognitive interview.
Evaluate the use of a cognitive interview.
How can the accuracy of EWT be improved when being interviewed?