Identification of Area Eyewitness testimonies are a very important area within cognitive psychology and relates directly to the human brain and memory. Cognitive psychology refers to the study of an individual’s internal processes‚ more specifically how they perceive information‚ how they learn‚ remember and think. The way that an individual functions cognitively directly impacts the eyewitness statement that they give‚ as we all perceive and recall information differently. By questioning the validity
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I always thought that eyewitness testimony was a bullet proof plan in the judicial system. I always thought that eyewitness testimony wasn’t malleable. You would think that when you are being raped and you analyze the rapist face you will know exactly who it is. I never considered how a weapon can effect what the brain focuses on. But if I thought about it more it does make sense. Because your brain is in survival mode because there is a knife to your neck. Your brain is not focusing on remembering
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and Palmer (1974) Aim: To test their hypothesis that that language used in eyewitness testimony can differ memory. Method: Forty-five American students formed an opportunity sample. This was a laboratory experiment with five conditions‚ only one of which was experienced by each participant (an independent measures design). Participants were shown slides of a car accident involving a number of cars and asked to describe what had happened as if they were eyewitnesses. They were then asked specific
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The eyewitness testimony is a crucial part of any case presented before a judge and a jury. It affects the decisions immensely and can mean the difference between conviction and a free walk for a criminal. The validity of the testimony is crucial to convicting the right person‚ though even when the person is under oath‚ mistakes can be made. Eyewitness testimony is a complicated business‚ though many believe it hurts more than it helps in many cases due to distractions and third parties. An eyewitness
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Overall eyewitness evidence strength was further examined across prosecution outcomes in the eyewitness identification alone cases” (Flowe‚ 2011). When it comes to being a creditable source of being an eye witness there are many things that‚ factor how using someone’s testimony as accountable source. When it comes to linking and eyewitness testimony and the accusing someone under false pretenses there has been amplitude of research that has being placed into forensic psychology to help see how useful
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Outline and evaluate the effect of anxiety on eyewitness testimony AO1 AO2 Yerkes Dodson law – states that there is an optimum level of anxiety for accurate eyewitness testimony. I.e. People who are not at all stressed‚ and people who are very stressed will be less accurate eyewitnesses that those who are under a moderate amount of stress. Loftus carried out a study of the ‘Weapon effect’. She set up two conditions of the experiment. In both conditions‚ participants heard a discussion in the
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Validity of Eyewitness Testimony Validity of Eyewitness Testimony In today’s court system one of the strongest pieces of evidence‚ or that most commonly accepted as fact by a jury‚ is eyewitness testimony. When correct‚ eyewitness accounts can aid in the conviction of many guilty people. However when it is incorrect‚ eyewitness testimony can do severe damage. Researchers have found that "more innocent citizens are wrongfully tried and convicted on the basis of eyewitness evidence in Great Britain
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Based on the contents of the video‚ it is quite clear to me that eyewitness testimony is a vital part of the criminal justice process. However‚ just like every other aspect of the criminal justice system it has to be treated seriously and used with care. Failure to do this can lead to several problems in the criminal justice process such as‚ leading questions and cognitive interview errors. As a result of these errors‚ they were subsequently highly analyzed and challenged by Elizabeth Loftus.Leading
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minutes Jennifer chose a picture of Ron Cotton with one hundred percent confidence. The eyewitness identification proved to be sufficient enough to convince the jury of Cotton’s guilt and sentence him to life in prison. After 11 years of rotting in his cell Ron Cotton was exonerated with the help of DNA evidence. The numbers of exonerations are on the rise and this poses the question whether eyewitness testimony is truly reliable? Research in cognitive psychology exposes major flaws in retrieval of
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Eyewitness testimony or the testimonies given by eyewitnesses are often times used as evidence in court. A person who has seen a crime occur‚ mentions their account of what happened during the time a crime was committed. Typically‚ when people think of eyewitnesses‚ they think of adults as playing that role‚ but children also play an important part and serve as eyewitnesses as well. The testimonies given by the adult eyewitnesses and children eyewitnesses for many reasons‚ are problematic at times
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