Logged out
Access All our Essays in an Instant
Swap your work for FREE access, or pay £4.99 for instant access
“It is clear that eyewitness testimony is entirely unreliable”. To what extent does psychology research support this view of eyewitness testimony?
Member rating: No Rating | Words: 898 | Submitted: Sun Apr 20 2008
Page Preview
On the left is an image preview of every page of this document, and below are the first 150 words with formatting removed:
"It is clear that eyewitness testimony is entirely unreliable". To what extent does psychology research support this view of eyewitness testimony? The belief that eyewitness testimony maybe unreliable comes from the work of Bartlett who claimed that memory is a reconstructed process and is influenced by schemas, stereotypes and leading questions. A schema is an 'organised' packet of information that enables us to predict what is likely to happen in various situations. The Brewer and Treyins study demonstrates how schemas can produce distorted recall. Participants were presented with an office schema - items consistent with the office such as a desk and chair, and items inconsistent with an office such as a skull and picnic basket. Nearly everyone recalled the desk and chair, but only 8 out of 30 participants recalled the skull and picnic basket. Furthermore, 9 participants recalled books that had not been there. Stereotypes are a formation of judgement, for...
To see the full version of this document, and 143,648 others
