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To what extent does psychological research support the accuracy of eye witness testimony?
Member rating: No Rating | Words: | Submitted: Wed Jan 19 2005
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To what extent does psychological research support the accuracy of eye witness testimony? (18 marks) Eye Witness Testimony is an area of research into a witness' recollection of an event, (crime, act of violence, car crash), and the accuracy of their memory. It can prove accurate and invaluable to police investigations but it is also fallible. This research studies what about the testimony is reliable, why errors are made and how to make them more reliable. * Rattner reviewed 205 cases of "wrongful arrest" and found that in 52 % of cases, incorrect EWT had been to blame. * This could be due to Bartlett's theory of Reconstructive Memory. This is the idea that witnesses take original information (e.g. a folk story, as Bartlett studied in 1932), and use "effort after meaning" with their existing ideas, experience and cultural teachings (schemas). * Loftus said that certain situations improve the validity of...
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