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The Misinformation Effect

995 Words4 Pages

There has been extensive research conducted on both estimator and system variables and how they specifically relate to the witnessing of a crime. Estimator variables represent sources of eyewitness error that are beyond the control of the criminal justice system. They typically happen during or following the crime before investigators are able to arrive on the scene. This represents the basic way humans perceive things and remember them and their overall influence can only be estimated. On the other hand, system variables are controlled by people within the criminal justice system when collecting information from eyewitnesses. In this case, errors are preventable. I will be discussing three estimator variables and three system variables and …show more content…

Unfortunately, most people are not immune to this effect. The misinformation effect occurs when people witness an event and are later exposed to new and misleading information about the event which causes their memory to become distorted. Misinformation can come from co-witnesses comparing notes, family members and peers, police investigating a crime, and lawyers in the courtroom. Studies have shown that it is harder for police officers and lawyers to share misleading information that pertains to important or noticeable factors from the case. It through other studies that we have been able to identify young children and elderly people to be more susceptible to the effects of misinformation. The misinformation effect belongs in the system variables category because it can be caused by law enforcement and lawyers who are information …show more content…

Research has indicated that police investigators should pay attention to witness’s level of confidence when determining the accuracy of their offender identifications. Other studies show that a higher confidence level in the witness leads to a more accurate decision when identifying the culprit. Also, highly confident decisions, rapid decisions, and decisions accompanied by relevant recollection are more likely to be accurate than those made with low confidence. There are several things which can influence eyewitness certainty, including post identification feedback and poorly constructed lineups. Sometimes witnesses are confident that the perpetrator is not in the lineup and they are referred to as non-choosers. Witness confidence and certainty are a part of the system variable category because it can be

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1367 Words | 6 Pages

She was shown photographs which included Hay’s photograph (taken 18 months earlier) and she selected him as an 80% likeness. Three weeks later, she was shown a sequence of photographs which included one of Hay (taken hours after the murder) and she did not select any photograph. At a second identification process, Maillard didn’t select any photographs and, when shown the photograph of Hay she stated that he looked very different and that in his arrest photo, he did not have a gaunt face like that of the second gunman at the club. An article by Pezdek, Abed & Cormia (2021) explores the relationship between stress and eyewitness memory accuracy, as well as the relationship between stress and eyewitness confidence. They found that stress impairs the accuracy of eyewitness memory but not the confidence-accuracy relationship.

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This week’s topic was very interesting to learn about how important eyewitnesses can be when a crime and accidents do occur. In the case that was presented in the 60-minute segment of Ronald Cotton and Jennifer Thompson is exactly how legal system can fail us when it comes to the eyewitnesses’ identification testimony and how a person’s perception and memory can be altered. The aspect of psychology and law research from this week’s course material is most relevant to the topic of perception and memory. The memory has different stages the first is encoding the process of entering perception into memory.

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423 Words | 2 Pages

It is unlikely that social consequences of false memories can be avoided. Elizabeth Loftus was intrigued to study false memories, and is perhaps personally responsible for subsequent developments throughout the history of false memories. Some of this history addresses various theories aimed at isolating how or why false memories occur. These include Source Monitoring Framework, Activation Monitoring Theory, Fuzzy Trace Theory, and strategies for persuasion which can lead to the development of false memory. Such persuasion leads to the present discussion concerning how persuasion in the judicial system has created false confessions and wrongful eyewitness testimonies, due to the Misinformation Effect.

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Ronald Cotton Case Study

1428 Words | 6 Pages

Effects of post identification feedback on eyewitness identification and nonidentification confidence. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 334–346. Lindsay, R., & Wells, G. (1985). Improving eyewitness identification from lineups: Simultaneous versus sequential lineup presentations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 70, 556–564.

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754 Words | 4 Pages

Historically, eyewitness accounts of a crime were a vital piece of evidence used in the prosecution of criminal offenses. Lineups were a method used where typically a group of individuals not involved in the crime along with the suspect whom is believed to be directly related to the crime are grouped together for the witness to review in the hopes to identify the suspect. This is accomplished in two ways, the first is simultaneous where several photos are grouped together at the same time (typically six) for the witness to review. This specific procedure raises the issue of certainty from the witness.

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1447 Words | 6 Pages

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620 Words | 3 Pages

In each incident, some characteristics can be more obvious than others, the distance from the incident matters, and what our brain chooses to do with the information we process are all big factors that come into play when trying to answer this question. For some people, their accounts of what occurs in front of their eyes is extremely accurate, while for other people - it is not. What I do know is, eyewitness testimony is to be used as a guideline in courtrooms, and not as any kind of evidence/proof. Too many innocent people have been wrongfully convicted due to false identifications and too many studies have proven that it is not as reliable as we all

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809 Words | 4 Pages

Some perceptual errors could exhibit the same impact. Let's take the halo and horn effects as examples. These errors can cause challenges in law enforcement because they focus more on personal biases than on remaining objective. Instead, law enforcement should organize the information they receive and use proximity, similarity, and difference only when sufficient enough information is available. I say this because it would not be honorable of their title for law enforcement to assume and jump to farfetched conclusions based on surface-level information.

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When conducting basic data, if the participant responds and states that its a signal, and in fact it is, then we would call that a “hit”. If the participant responds to a “signal”, and states that it is a “noise”, we would call this a “miss”. In addition, if the participant responds to a signal with “noise”, this is called a false alarm. Lastly, if the participant responds to a noise with “just a noise”, this is called “correct rejection”. For Eyewitness Identification, the labels will be altered as Correct Identification and False Identification for “Present” and “Absent” suspects, but the answers “Hit, False Alarm, Miss, and Correct Refection, remain the same.

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573 Words | 3 Pages

When hearing a witness there are many factors that need to be taken into consideration. It need to be considered if the witness has a motive, how well they can recall the events, if a certain outcome might benefit them and also their credibility. Although eye witness testimony has been challenged as biased or insufficient (Wells& Loftus, 1984) a certain type of witness can contribute to a criminal case because of their knowledge. Expert witnesses are individuals that have experience, skills, knowledge and expertise in subjects beyond that of an ordinary person. Their opinion is accepted as an evidence.

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1025 Words | 5 Pages

The misinformation effect is defined as the phenomenon where one reports an inaccurate memory of an event after being given misleading information and is likely to cause false memories. A significant part of the effect is that participants have to experience the original event, and then these episodic memories are distorted. Episodic

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1225 Words | 5 Pages

Furthermore, there can be several factors at play when a wrongful conviction occurs and each case is unique. Three of the more common and detrimental factors that will be explored in this essay are eyewitness error, the use of jailhouse informants and professional and institutional misconduct. Firstly, eyewitness testimony can be a major contributor to a conviction and is an important factor in wrongful conviction (Campbell & Denov, 2016, p. 227). Witness recall and, frankly, the human emory are not as reliable as previously thought. In fact there has been much research showing the problems with eyewitness testimony such as suggestive police interviewing, unconscious transference, and malleability of confidence (Campbell & Denov, 2016, p.227).

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1057 Words | 5 Pages

False memories are more likely to be formed when misleading information is provided. The misinformation effect is defined as the phenomenon where one reports an inaccurate memory of an event after being given misleading information. A significant part of the effect is that participants have to experience the original event, and then these episodic memories are distorted. Episodic memories are “information about temporally dated episodes or events and temporal-spatial relations among these events.” Remembering the correct sequential, temporal order of episodic memories is crucial and tends to be difficult to do.

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861 Words | 4 Pages

The Fundamental Attribution Error states that people tend to overestimate the impact of dispositional influences on others’ behavior and underestimate the impact of situational influences on other behavior's. In order to better understand this, we must set clear what dispositional and situational influences are. Dispositional influences we refer to enduring characteristics, such as personality traits, attitudes, and intelligence; influences found inside every individual. On the other hand, situational influences refer to external situations that can influence someone to behave in someway.

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1397 Words | 6 Pages

This highlights the issue of post event information, and how easily it can sway an individual’s recollection of events. Gabbert et al (2004) further looked into this, in this study participants viewed a crime video and were later exposed to four pieces of misinformation about it; presented by a confederate or in a written narrative. Gabbert found that participants were less accurate in recall after they received misinformation, and misinformation given socially was significantly more misleading. Further studies for this misinformation effect comes from Loftus, Miller and Burns (1978), here participants (undergraduate students) watched a slide show of a car driving and then hitting a pedestrian. Some participants were then asked the leading question “how fast was the car travelling when it passed the yield sign?”

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