Eyewitness Testimony Essay

Eyewitness Testimony Essay
The human mind can be a very important tool, but it can also be highly flawed. The mind can remember an extensive amount of information. However,
it can make people think things happened that never truly happened. Eyewitness testimony has always played an important role as evidence in the
courts system. Juries on a trial tend to believe eyewitness testimony over any other evidence, even if other evidence differs from the eyewitness
testimony. When little other evidence is presented, eyewitness testimony tends to be the primary focus. Many wrongful convictions have occurred due
to these false eyewitness statements. According to George Vallas, in "A survey of Federal and State Standards for the Admission of Expert Testimony
on the...show more content...
In many of our domestic cases such as child custody or divorce we also rely on testimonies from witnesses. These can make or break a case most of
the time. Many factors can contribute to false eyewitness testimony including human memory is not reliable, police identification procedures,
conditions, violence weapons, and stress
Police Identification Procedures: Good or Bad?
When police bring in an eyewitness to identify the suspect(s) many procedures have to be followed. Two of the main procedures are photo
identifications and lineups. When it comes to these procedures many flaws tend to occur. For example, the witness may not be told the suspect may
not be among the photos or in the lineup. According to Marc Green, in his article, "Proper eyewitness identification procedures," Green claims that
the witness does not compare each picture to their memory. Instead, they examine all of the pictures and then the witness chooses the one that would
seem to most likely to be the offender. The witness is more likely to just pick a picture even if the perpetrator is not among the pictures they were
given. They may do this because of stress, pressure, or just because they are scared (195–198).
Conditions
Juror reliance can contribute to wrongful convictions. Even though eyewitness testimony has caused many wrongful convictions, the public, has still
has found them to be very trustworthy in trials. In his article, "Proper eyewitness
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Eyewitness Testimony
Elizabeth Loftus has conducted many studies on eyewitness testimony (EWT).
In 1974 she worked with John Palmer to look at the ways that memory can be distorted. The studies general aim was to explore the accuracy of
memory after witnessing a car accident. In particular it was to find out if leading questions distort the accuracy of eyewitness's immediate recall. It
also aimed to see if it was true that people were open to hints, as people are extremely bad at estimating the speed of moving cars.
45 students were shown 7films of different traffic accidents. After each film, participants were given a questionnaire asking them to describe the
accident and then answer a...show more content...
They may feel unsure about what to do and how to behave, and therefore would look for clues of what is expected from them.
In 1975 Loftus worked alone to conduct another study on EWT. She showed participants a short video of 8 demonstrators delivering a lecture.
Participants were later given a questionnaire, containing the critical question: 'was the leader of the 4 (or 12) demonstrators a male?'. one week later
participants were asked several questions including one about the number of demonstrators. Those who had been asked about 4 demonstrators gave a
mean answer of 6.4, while those asked about 12 demonstrators gave a mean of 8.9. This further supports the idea that post–event information effects
following recall.
In 1974 Loftus described a fabricated case to 50 students. A man and his granddaughter had been murdered during a robbery at a grocery store. On the
evidence presented just 9 students thought the suspect was guilty. Yet, another group of 50 students was told that there was an eyewitness who could
identify the suspect. 36 participants from this group said that the suspect was guilty. A third set of students was additionally told that thewitness was not
wearing his glasses during the crime and so was unlikely to have seen the suspects face clearly. This study emphasizes the
Corall Ogugua.

In the end of a court case, there is guilty and innocent. Sometimes the guilty is judged accordingly, other times the innocent is judged guilty.
Eyewitness testimony gives details about what happened, identification of perpetrators. Eyewitness can be the central focus of the whole investigation,
and is also heavily focused on and powerful in the courtroom. Hence, eyewitness testimony is largely one of the reasons as to why innocent
individuals are thrown in prison. Although generally without a doubt, eyewitness testimony is helpful to the court and investigation, but memory
alone is not always reliable. That previous statement was not meaning to convict all eyewitness testimony, but it is just common sense to understand
that not all eyewitness testimony is accurate or true. Eyewitness testimony must be evaluated before allowing witnesses to be put into a courtroom
because there are many aspects as to why eyewitness testimony is not sincere or reliable. There are many factors as to why relying eyewitness
testimony is not always an advantage. During the witnessing of an event, there may be psychological factors such as stress, trauma, or anxiety that
can affect the testimony (McLeod). According McLeod, there was a Journal of Applied Psychology in 1978 by Clifford, B.R. and Scott, J. They
found that people who saw a film filled with violent assaults recalled less than 40 items of information than those who were in a less stressful situation.
So, witnessing a real crime

Accuracy of an Eyewitness Testimony Essay
The Accuracy of an Eyewitness Testimony
Student: Amy Mason
Number: 2842657
Tutor: Serena Nicholls
Tutorial Time: Thursday 10am– 10:50am
Due date: Friday 21st September 21, 2012
Word count: 1858
Psychological research shows that eyewitness testimony is not always accurate, therefore it should not be used in the criminal justice system. Discuss.
The reliability if an eyewitness testimony is questionable. The witness may be so certain that the person that thy are pointing out is one hundred per
cent the suspect or they could be so certain when it comes to retelling the incident, although these people are so sure on what it is they are doing, their
testimony cannot always accurate. Due to the lack of accuracy with eyewitness...show more content...
* Hindsight Bias: Hindsight bias can affect the eyewitness in that, once the witness learns how the event turned out, it can affect how they remember the
crime. * Overconfidence of the eyewitness testimony: although the witness may seem and feel confident, this does not mean that their testimony or
identification is correct or true.
All of the above factors and causes for wrongful causes of eyewitness testimonies as well as factors such as: the lighting of the area where the incident
happened, how long the victim was with the victimiser, how stressful the situation was and the amount of time between the crime and alerting
authorities can have a huge impact on ones eyewitness testimony. Although the witness may seem adamant and confident in their testimony, the above
factors should be assessed and taken into consideration when reflecting on the accuracy and reliability of the witness's testimony.
An alternative source of reliable evidence is DNA evidence. Although DNA evidence did not exist when Ronald Cotton was first accused, it was what
made him a free man in the end, proving his innocence. It is believed that thousands of men and women are wrongfully convicted for crimes they did
not commit (Wise, Fisherman & Safer, 2009) and as experts estimate; half of all wrong convictions are due to misidentification in an eyewitness
testimony (Wise, Fisherman

Essay On Eyewitness Testimony
Introduction
Eyewitness testimony is the account a bystander gives in the courtroom, describing what that person observed that occurred during the specific incident
under investigation. Ideally this recollection of events is detailed and accurate, this is not always the case. Juries tend to pay close attention to
eyewitness testimony and generally find it a reliable source of information. The criminal justice system relies heavily on eyewitness identification for
investigating and prosecuting crimes. While there may be a variety of factors that can affect the ability of an eyewitness to identify the someone at a
later time such as; the amount of time the culprit is in view, the lighting conditions, whether the culprit wears a disguise, the distinctiveness of the
culprit's appearance, the presence or absence of a weapon, and the timing of knowledge that one is witnessing a crime (Wells, 2003). However, research
into this area has found that eyewitness testimony can be affected by many psychological factors such as inattentional blindness and change blindness.
This paper seeks to understand how certain perceptual phenomenon such as; change blindness and inattentional blindness, affect eyewitness testimony.
In this paper I will be looking at the relationship between eyewitness testimony...show more content...
Mudsplashes refers to when a few small, high–contrast shapes are briefly spattered over a picture, like mudsplashes on a car windscreen, large
changes can be made simultaneously in the scene without being noticed (James 1999). this paradigm demonstrates that stimuli in a scene may not be
noticed if there are slight obstructions in an individual's visual field. The saccade forcing paradigm mimics eye movements as a change is made in an
image at the same time as the image is moved, forcing a

There has been considerable interest and study in the accuracy or inaccuracy of the use of eyewitness testimonies in the current criminal justice system.
Results collated by several studies add to the bulk of literature suggesting that the current usage of eyewitness testimony by the legal system is far from
ideal. Currently, high emphasis is being placed on reviewing and reconsidering eyewitness accounts (Leinfelt, 2004). In particular, recent DNA
exoneration cases have shown that mistaken eyewitness identification was one of the largest factors contributing to the sentence of innocent people
(Wells & Olson, 2003). For example, 75% of the first 271 cases of DNA exoneration in the US resulted in eyewitnesstestimony error (Brewer & Wells
cited...show more content...
Given these findings, it suggests that if an unfamiliar story can be re–told with significant changes by all those who participated in the study, a
statement given by an eyewitness is subject to the same results (Leinfelt, 2004). Having considered Bartlett's research in 1932, it is also reasonable to
consider the criticism of Gauld and Stephenson (1967), as they discovered if the participants were told of the importance of accurate recall, the number
of errors made in the re–telling was notably reduced. Arguably, real life cases and laboratory findings have shown that although eyewitnesses
understand the importance of accuracy, recall is not without error (Tversky & Tuchin, 1989).
Subsequently, a study led by Brewer and Treyens (1981) involved further research into the tie between schemas and visual memory. The experiment
supported the theory of schema expectancy – participants, who were placed in a workplace setting, were able to easily recall office supplies as
opposed to the more unusual items also left in their vicinity (Brewer & Treyens, 1981). Once again, this leads to the inference that the witness can
unconsciously alter recollection of events in eyewitness testimony, and that there is no guarantee of accuracy in their statement (Leinfelt,

False Memory & Eyewitness Testimony Essay
False Memory and Eyewitness Testimony PSY363 False Memory and Eyewitness Testimony A false memory is simply a memory that did not
occur. An actual experience can become distorted as best illustrated by the Cog Lab experiment on false memories accessed through Argosy
University. The experiment is outlined as follows: a participant is given a list of words that are highly relative in nature at a rate of about one word
every 2 seconds. At the finish of the given list, the participant is then shown a list of words in which he or she is to recall the words from the original
list. A special distractor is inserted to the list, and this word, although highly relative in nature, was not in the original list. For example, the...show more
content...
Years later, DNA evidence exonerated him and he was set free (Rankin, 2011). What about the execution of Troy Anthony Davis? The State of
Georgia executed him in 2011 for killing a cop although they had no physical evidence that linked him to the crime, but they had eyewitness
testimony. When addressing the slain officer's family, he said he was sorry for their loss, but it was not him that took their family member's life,
implored them to seek the truth, and asked for God to have mercy on his executioners' souls. Since his execution, 7 out of the 9 eyewitness have
recanted or changed their testimony. This is an outrage in and of itself and a black eye to our justice system (Troy Anthony Davis executed in
Georgia after appeals exhausted, 2011). The bank robbery occurred in Slidell, LA., where the population is 76% white. It is very possible that if the
perpetrators were of any other race than white, there would be difficulty in identification (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012). Studies show that witnesses are
more apt to correctly identify their own race than any other (Rankin, 2011). In this case, both of the perpetrators brandished weapons, even holding
them out. According to studies, such as one conducted at University of Louisiana at Lafayette, when a weapon is brandished during the commission of
a crime, the weapon effect occurs. This is the state of witnesses or victims being so intently focused on the weapon that it impairs the memory of

Persuasive Essay On Eyewitness Testimony
Eyewitness accounts have long been used since the beginning of modern courtroom justice as evidence to condemn or liberate and eyewitnesses were
once considered quintessential in proceedings. Recently, however, the accuracy of these types of accounts is being tested. Psychological and statistical
research affirms that eyewitness testimony is inaccurate most of the time, whether significantly or partly, and many innocent people have wrongfully
suffered because of these errors. For this reason, eyewitness information should not be used as the sole form of evidence in prosecution, however it
should still be used in the courtroom. Better interrogation methods should be utilised by police departments to gain as much accurate information from
witnesses as possible and to mitigate the amount of inconsistency and outright error in witness statements. Law schools, police departments and jurors
should be educated about the psychology behind eyewitness errors, different external causes of error and forms of error. Since the late 20th Century,
DNA analysis has proven eyewitness identification to be faulty at best such as in the well–known case of Ronald Cotton and Jennifer Thompson in
1984. In this instance, Thompson was certain that Cotton was the man that raped her, pointing him out first in a photo line up then subsequently in a
live line up (Innocence Project, 2017). 10 years after Cotton was wrongfully found guilty, he was acquitted due to DNA analysis that indicated he was
not

Eyewitness testimony often serves as direct evidence and has strong influences on juries during trial. While these testimonies are invaluable there has
been a lot DNA exoneration that shows the flaws in eyewitness identification, leading to false convictions. A pre–trial identification is important in
establishing eyewitness testimony. There are multiple types of identification used to make a positive ID, though lineups and showing photos are used
the most. Unfortunately, misidentifications will continue to happen and juries will continue to give them too much weight because of the general
public's belief in their accuracy. These procedures are heavily relied on by police to determine if the perpetrator committed the crime. Eyewitness
...show more content...
If the interviewer provides unfavorable characteristics to a suspect during the interview it will become real to them. Another technique used by
interviewers is with the use of anatomically detailed dolls. These dolls are given to children and asked to show the interviewer how they were
fondled or touched. When asked specific questions and the suggestion that abuse has occurred, it prompts children to describe false events. Some
children may be very stressed by the courtroom atmosphere and experience embarrassment, fear of strangers, or upsetting their parents. They also may
fear having to testify in front of the accused, or being yelled at while on stand. This fear, or anxiety could lead to biased answers towards or against the
defendant. According to the American
Psychological Association, emotional events often are remembered inaccurately due to stress and trauma (Aharonian, A., Bornstein,
B.,2008).
Eyewitness testimony has been around for decades and will still be around decades from now. When someone sees a crime they may be only person
that can bring justice to the victim

The Reliability of Eyewitness Testimony Essay
The Reliability of Eyewitness Testimony
Part 1 – How reliable is Eyewitness testimony?
The Reconstructive nature of memory – Schemas and Stereotypes
The reconstructive nature of memory is related to the schema theory. A schema is a package of memory that is organized and developed throughout
our lives. Schemas are stored in long term memory. Most people have similar schemas and this was recognized by Bower, Black and Turner (1979)
when they asked several people to recall the schema for the most important things they do when they go out to a restaurant for a meal. They found out
that most people put the same main aspects in their schemas.
Bartlett's theory of Reconstructive Memory is...show more content...
Some parts of information were forgotten and others were exaggerated.
Bartlett's study showed how our cultural expectations or stereotypes lead to predictable changes in memory. Stereotypes are schemas that summarize
large amounts of information. Like schemas, stereotypes influence memory. He argued that schemas affect the retrieval process rather than the initial
storage, but a study by Cohen (1981) suggested that schemas and stereotypes are important at both stages of memory: initial storage and retrieval.
The effects of leading questions
An eyewitness's testimony about an event can be affected by the questions that are asked. For example, if the experimenter asks, "did you see the
broken headlight?" rather than "did you see a broken headlight?" the use of the word "the" suggests there was a broken headlight and therefore the
participant goes on to build up a memory for that headlight (Loftus and Zanni 1975). The language used in questioning eyewitnesses may alter what
they remember.
Loftus and Palmer (1975) showed their participants a series of projector slides of a multiple car accident. The participants then answered specific

questions. It was found out that the information implicit in the question affected memory, even though the questions apparently only differed

The Accuracy of Eyewitness Testimony is a major topic in our society. Eyewitness Testimony is often used during crime scene investigations. Although
a Testimony by a bystander or a victim regarding an incident is a great tool for further investigation, testimonies are often times false and can lead to
false accusations. The research question, how accurate is eyewitness testimony, will be studied. The purpose for this project is to determine the
accuracy of eyewitness testimony. The hypothesis, High school students tested for selective attention and accuracy of eyewitness testimony will
demonstrate no more than 25% accuracy in their recall of the events, will be tested. There is an abundant amount of great information currently...show
more content...
It is very important to address the topic of eyewitness testimony. There have been many cases in the past where people were falsely accused because
the only evidence used was eyewitness testimony. The very first exoneration in the United States took place on August 14, 1989, on that day DNA
evidence freed Gary Dotson from his wrongful rape conviction. It is very important also to make the public aware that eyewitness testimonies are
often times incorrect meaning more biological tests need to be conducted to accurately convict someone. The Innocence Project has proved many
times that conviction solely based on eyewitness testimony is not ideal. In a research conducted by Stenzel C it was stated that "Today, the leading
cause of wrongful convictions is eyewitness misidentification". This is the main reason why the accuracy of eyewitness testimony needs to be further
addressed, so there are no wrongful convictions in the future. There were not many solutions available in the past over the issues of eyewitness
testimony. This caused many individuals to be falsely accused; however, in 1981 professors from Princeton published a paper regarding how people
remember information. The remembrance of past event is of huge importance to eyewitness testimony because witnesses are questioned based on what
took place during the scene of a

Eyewitness identification and testimony play a huge role in the criminal justice system today, but skepticism of eyewitnesses has been growing.
Forensic evidence has been used to undermine the reliability of eyewitness testimony, and the leading cause of false convictions in the United States is
due to misidentifications by eyewitnesses. The role of eyewitness testimony in producing false confessions and the factors that contribute to the
unreliability of these eyewitness testimonies are sending innocent people to prison, and changes are being made in order to reform these faulty
identification procedures. Human memory is flexible and prone to suggestion. "Human memory, while remarkable in many ways, does not operate like
a video camera"...show more content...
Research that has been performed on this factor shows that the chance of mistaken identification is 1.56 times greater in cases that involve different
races than in cases involving same race identification (Vallas, 2011). This factor of own–race bias does not vary significantly among age groups. Other
factors that affect eyewitness identification are violence, stress, and the focus on a weapon. "Violence, stress, and the presence of a weapon at the
time of a crime all may have detrimental effects on the ability of a witness to make an accurate identification" (Vallas, 2011). Stress distorts an
eyewitness's observations, and while it is understandable to focus on the weapon when faced with a situation in which the eyewitness is in danger,
the focus on the weapon is not as important as the description of the perpetrator. Since it is not within the power of researchers studying the effects
of violence and stress on witnesses to replicate the exact stress and violence of an actual crime, it has been difficult to determine the actual effect that
these two factors have on witnesses (Vallas, 2011). However, many experiments conclude that an increase in the level of violence used in the crime
results in a decrease in both the accuracy of the identification as well as the witness's recall abilities (Vallas, 2011). Weapon focus is described as

Difference Between Eyewitness Testimony
Whether an individual is a witness for or against your case, there are signs that a person may not be reliable. The following are a few things to look for.
A witness's statement does not agree with the evidence
This is not always obvious because a witness's statement can seem accurate except for a single variance with the physical evidence. This can be
important because of the case were to go to trial, a simple discrepancy in the testimony could be exploited by the opposing attorney. Although it is
normal for eyewitness testimony not to be perfect, if there is a difference between the witness's account and a particular piece of evidence, there is a
chance that some or all of the testimony has been derived from the statement of one of the parties in the lawsuit or criminal case.
There is a bias with the witness
If the witness is a friend or relative of one of the parities involved, there is an obvious bias that the witness may have. This doesn't mean that the
witness's statement is necessarily inaccurate, but anytime there is a relationship between a witness and the party being sued or is suing, then the
statement may be questionable. As a private investigator, we can run a background check on someone to determine if there is a family relationship or
perhaps a...show more content...
Whether a witness's testimony will still be valuable in court is up to an attorney, but in general, the greater the change, the more unreliable the witness
is. The key element is whether the witness was on record with their first story. If their first statement was not recorded and is one that was verbal, the
second statement that was a recorded witness statement may carry more weight. This is why it is important to have a witness statement documented,
and have it done as early as possible while the event is still fresh in a person's mind. A private investigator has skills and legal knowledge to record an
in person witness statement

Eyewitness Testimony Case Study
Eyewitness testimony is the evidence given by someone who has actually seen something occur, and can sometimes be very fallible. People will
provide an interviewer with information to fit their own story. A lot of the time constructive memory is what is given. Many people do not recall what
exactly happened so they fill in the blanks of the story with what they think might have happened.Interview EvaluationIn the first experiment students
were split up into five groups and were asked at what speed did the cars come in contact. The other ways the question was asked was how fast were the
cars going when they bumped, hit, collided, and smashed (Loftus, 2007). In the end, the students who were asked the question at what speed were the
vehicles going when they came in contact replied with a speed much lower than the students asked at what speed were they vehicles going with they
smashed into each other....show more content...
Another experiment Loftus used was another car incident. She asked one group of students if they saw a broken headlight while asking the other group
if they saw the broken headlight. Twice as many students said they saw the broken headlight when asked if they saw the broken headlight (Loftus,
2007). What happens when the students were asked close–ended questions was that they replied with a positive response. When asked the close–ended
questions, the students would use constructive memory and make them believe that it really occurred. During the experiments students were asked
open–ended questions, which allowed them to express what they actually saw rather than the interviewer suggesting things that

Like many who are facing criminal charges in Wisconsin, an eyewitness statement may have led to your arrest. This type of testimony has long been
considered one of the most reliable sources of evidence, however, research has shown that this is not necessarily true. In fact, misidentifications by
eyewitnesses contributed to more than 70 percent of the wrongful convictions that were later overturned through eyewitness testimony, according to the
Innocence Project. At the Rose & Rose law firm, people often ask us about the impact of eyewitness testimony on criminal trials. In this post, we will
discuss the factors that may affect the accuracy of eyewitness identifications. Many people mistakenly believe that the human mind works like a video
recorder,

Why Is Eyewitness Testimony Reliable
I do agree that eyewitness testimony is not always reliable, because on my family history. Many people are doing time in jail or in a prison because
of something he or she did not commit. People eyes can deceive them of what they thought they saw or seen. As well as a person might heard
something they did not hear. With this in mind, everybody has perceptions. Mostly of the time the person perception of event of questioning is correct
but mostly of the time it not. For instance, if a person can't remember of what all she or he seen, they might go along with what the court official
saying to fill in the empty spaces. This can cause a false testimony. Having a false testimony can destroy an innocent person's life. I think the way to
solve this

Eyewitness Testimony Memory
In the late 19th–century research on eyewitness, testimony memory began, psychologists had been studying memory, and the findings became useful
for forensic psychology and law. A central issue with studying eyewitness memory and testimony is the ecological validity of lab studies. There are
relatively few 'real world' eyewitness memory studies, and that causes problems for determining the generalizability of findings in eyewitness memory.
Coined by Wells (1978) estimator variables are present at the time of a crime and cannot be changed (i.e. witness characteristics and the type of
offence) and system variables are factors that can be manipulated to affect eyewitness accuracy (i.e. line–up procedures and interview types). The
system variables...show more content...
Biggers (1972) instructions were given to the jury that said 'witness confidence should be used to assess witness accuracy.' This statement was highly
controversial at the time because there was only a minor positive correlation between confidence and accuracy – far from enough to say it was a
significant correlation. The U.S. Supreme Court outlined five criteria that should be used in the future for evaluating the accuracy of eyewitness
testimony. Preferable methods for evaluating the accuracy include assessing the suggestiveness of the identification procedure, assessing the
instructions given to the witness, examine the structure of the photo or live lineup and ensure there was no suggestibility or coercive methods. One
criticism of the Biggers criteria is the lack of system variables. Most variables within the Biggers criteria are estimator variables; which the justice
system has no control over. To reduce some of the problems that have been found with eyewitness memory and testimony, I recommend not mistaking
confidence for memory accuracy and using multiple techniques and interviewing models to develop more accurate and consistent information (i.e.
using the cognitive enhanced interview model and combined with the Reid model or other models). Also, courts and jurors need to test/check for
suggestibility and coercive interview or investigative practices before trials

Eyewitness Testimonies
Throughout the history of the United States' judicial system, eyewitness testimonies – an account from a witness of a crime or an accident that
involves the witness recounting their firsthand experience of the incident to a court – have been used as conclusive evidence to prove a defendant
guilty. It is thought that although memory can be unclear at times, it is assumed memories of stressful or otherwise threatening events are well
encoded into the brain, largely indelible, and therefore can be accurately recalled. This idea is based off of the psychological concept of flashbulb
memories which are "sudden onsets of emotionally significant events or memories" ("Psychology Students"). However, recent psychological and
neuroscientific research...show more content...
A study done in 2005 showed that when 30 statements regarding eyewitness issues, jurors disagreed with memory experts in 87% of the issues, and
judges disagreed with 60% of the issues (Benton et al. 117). Therefore, even though jurors and judges agreed with memory experts on more statements
regarding "memory myths" than did jurors, their understanding of these memory myths still greatly deviated from memory experts; which shows the
uninformative nature of juror and the

Essay about Eye-Witness Testimony
Eye–Witness Testimony
Until now we have focused upon theoretical psychology that employ methods that are removed from real life. Neisser was one psychologist who
criticized his fellow psychologists for concentrating too much on theoretical concepts and ignoring the practical issues involved about memory. It is
memory from real life experiences that psychologists must concentrate on and one aspect of this is known as the eyewitness testimony.
Reliability of Eyewitness Testimony–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
It is without doubt that eyewitnesses to a crime are one of the most important people to the police when trying to get a conviction but we must
remember that sometimes...show more content...
like we take photographs. He believed that instead of taking exact replicas of the initial stimulus, we weave it with existing knowledge and experience
to form a reconstructed memory. This is known as effort after meaning.
Bartlett carried out a number if experiments to investigate how people recall things. In one of his best–known study's he read English participants a
folk tale derived from Red Indian culture called "The war of the ghosts." This was an unusual story for people from a western culture to understand
because it contained unfamiliar supernatural concepts. After an interval, the participants were asked to recall as much about the story as possible.
Bartlett found that their accounts were distorted in several ways with were consistent with a western–world view. Specifically he found the following
differences:
* Rationalizations – People added information or justification for actions that were not in the original.
* Omissions – Information was left out particularly that of which was most difficult for westerners to understand.
* Changes of Order – Events were reordered in order for the tale to make more sense.
* Alterations in Importance – Certain parts were given more prominence than in the original story.

* Distortion of Emotion – People incorporated their own feelings and attitudes towards the story.
So, according to

Eyewitness Testimony Essay

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