Using your knowledge and understanding of Reconstructive Memory Theory explain how a memory is created and stored and why there may be inaccuracies in the recall of the eye-witness, then evaluate this claim

Authors Avatar by patrickctucker (student)

There are claims that Eye Witness Testimonies are an unreliable form of evidence to use in court and that they cannot be believed and are leading to false convictions.
Using your knowledge and understanding of Reconstructive Memory Theory explain how a memory is created and stored and why there may be inaccuracies in the recall of the eye-witness, then evaluate this claim.  [12 marks]

Eyewitness testimony is the account that a bystander of a crime gives during a courtroom trial; this includes giving important details of the event, as well as identifying the perpetrators. They are accepted as a strong form of evidence in the judicial system, and oftentimes will lead to convictions.

Bartlett suggested that memory was “an imaginative reconstruction” of past events—influenced by our attitudes and responses to the events at the time they occurred. This means that any attempt to recall a memory involves the process of “reconstructing” it. As with reconstructing anything, Bartlett argues that some features may not be identical to that of the original—that is to say, when we recall a memory, we may not recall it exactly how it happened.

Join now!

Bartlett says that humans make sense of information by putting them into schemas—units of memory that correspond to different situations. Schemas allow people to understand what they encounter. They may be determined by one’s prejudice—Bartlett’s Reconstructive Memory theory suggests that recall is subject to interpretation, based on a person’s norms and values. This means that we recall memories based on what we would expect the normal thing to be is.

He tested this is using different stories—he used the story called “the War of the Ghosts” on English participants (who were unlikely to have heard the Native American story). ...

This is a preview of the whole essay