Essays on Eyewitness testimony

An eyewitness testimony is a report made by a person who observed an event. Police, prosecutors, juries and judges in court generally believe, trust and accept eyewitness testimony, especially if no other evidence (objects, documentary and/or physical evidence) is available and if the eyewitness has no reason nor motivation to give false statements (Wells et…

Details in our lives become less and less important every single day, but what happens when we are to encounter a traumatic experience such as a kidnapping, murder, fight or rape. Our minds go blank, our hearts start pumping blood to every vital organ, and we prepare our selves for the flight or fight. In…

Studies say that even though 50% of eyewitness testimonies are wrong, the information given to the jury by a confident eyewitness beats the reliable facts of fingerprints and DNA. Researchers have studied the affects of eyewitness testimony and it is said that incorrect eyewitness identifications account for more convictions of innocent people than any other…

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…

The Influence of Post-event Suggestion on Memory: Loftus’ Experimental Procedure (Loftus & Palmer, 1974) Since the early 1970s, Loftus and her colleagues have been studying the role of post-event suggestion in the creation of false memories, a finding now referred to as the “misinformation effect” (Loftus, 1997, p. 70).  In the first experiment of an early…

The Cognitive Interview and Eyewitness Credibility My Initial Hypothesis Hypothesis: The cognitive interview increases the credibility of eyewitness testimony by decreasing memory error and confabulations. Information is the lifeblood of a criminal investigation. The ability of investigators to obtain useful and accurate information from eyewitnesses of crimes is crucial to effective law enforcement, yet full…