Eyewitness Testimony.
) Outline TWO factors that affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.
The first factor that can affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimony may be the use of misleading information whereby the participant is prompted to give a certain answer in relation to the structured question, which in return alters the final results. The second being,
Anxiety were Loftus conducted a study concluding that there is impaired recall in people who have witnessed particularly unpleasant or anxiety inducing situations.
[4 marks]
2) Outline the key features of the cognitive interview technique as you might if you were interviewing an eyewitness to a crime.
There are four main techniques used in a cognitive interview, the first being context reinstatements whereby the witness mentally reinstates the context of the target event recalling certain factors from the scene such as: the weather, what they were thinking and feeling that that present time as well as any other preceding events. The second being reporting everything where the witness reports in detail everything they can recall even if it seems trivial. The third, recalling from a changed perspective, where the witness reports the episode in several different temporal orders moving backwards and forwards in time. The last technique is the recall of reverse order, whereby the witness attempts to describe the episode as it would have been seen from different viewpoints not just their own.
[6 marks]
3) Alice is visiting her doctor. She needs to remember all the information that the doctor tells her.
) Outline TWO factors that affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.
The first factor that can affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimony may be the use of misleading information whereby the participant is prompted to give a certain answer in relation to the structured question, which in return alters the final results. The second being,
Anxiety were Loftus conducted a study concluding that there is impaired recall in people who have witnessed particularly unpleasant or anxiety inducing situations.
[4 marks]
2) Outline the key features of the cognitive interview technique as you might if you were interviewing an eyewitness to a crime.
There are four main techniques used in a cognitive interview, the first being context reinstatements whereby the witness mentally reinstates the context of the target event recalling certain factors from the scene such as: the weather, what they were thinking and feeling that that present time as well as any other preceding events. The second being reporting everything where the witness reports in detail everything they can recall even if it seems trivial. The third, recalling from a changed perspective, where the witness reports the episode in several different temporal orders moving backwards and forwards in time. The last technique is the recall of reverse order, whereby the witness attempts to describe the episode as it would have been seen from different viewpoints not just their own.
[6 marks]
3) Alice is visiting her doctor. She needs to remember all the information that the doctor tells her.
