Cognitive Approach - Contemporary Debate: The Reliability of Eyewitness Testimony UPDATED Actual Exam Questions and CORRECT Answers
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Cognitive Approach - Contemporary Debate
Institution
Cognitive Approach - Contemporary Debate
Cognitive Approach - Contemporary
Debate: The Reliability of Eyewitness
Testimony UPDATED Actual Exam
Questions and CORRECT Answers
INTRO: What is meant by the term 'eyewitness testimony'? - CORRECT ANSWER- Any
first-hand accounts of an event that is described by someone present at the sce...
Cognitive Approach - Contemporary
Debate: The Reliability of Eyewitness
Testimony UPDATED Actual Exam
Questions and CORRECT Answers
INTRO: What is meant by the term 'eyewitness testimony'? - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- Any
first-hand accounts of an event that is described by someone present at the scene of a crime
INTRO: What do eyewitness testimonies involve? - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- An
individual giving their account of the incident, including details of the place and those
present, under oath in a court of law
INTRO: How many innocence projects are there within the UK at the moment? - CORRECT
ANSWER✔✔- 36
INTRO: What do the 36 innocence projects in the UK deal with? - CORRECT
ANSWER✔✔- Matters for prisoners who were wrongfully convicted of a crime
INTRO: Why is the reliability of eyewitness testimony a debate? - CORRECT
ANSWER✔✔- It can lead to severe ethical implications (such as harm), if wrongful
conviction and imprisonment occurs as a result of a false testimony
AGAINST - MIR: What is the *point* against the reliability of eyewitness testimony? -
CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- One way in which the reliability of eyewitness testimonies has
been undermined has been due to the notion that memory is reconstructive - this has been
argued as a result of the implications of heightened emotions (e.g. anxiety) on the recollection
of memories
AGAINST - MIR: Which psychologist was referenced in the *point* against the reliability of
eyewitness testimony? - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- Freud (1894)
AGAINST - MIR: What did Freud (1984) find in regards to heightened emotions? -
CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- There was a negative correlation between heightened emotions
, and the recollection of memories, which he suggested was due to individuals' ego-defence
mechanisms subconsciously making them "forget" the distressing content of memories
AGAINST - MIR: What evidence is there to support the argument that eyewitness
testimonies are unreliable on the basis of memory? - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- Loftus et al
(1987) had found that if the perpetrator of a crime was carrying a weapon, eyewitnesses
would focus on details of the weapon rather than the perpetrator itself
AGAINST - MIR: What did Loftus et al's (1987) findings coincide with? - CORRECT
ANSWER✔✔- Their findings coincided with the "weapon focus phenomenon", which is
thought to occur as a result of the anxiety experienced by an individual in the presence of a
weapon that would serve to divert their attention to it - thus resulting in the formation of
inaccurate/incomplete memories
AGAINST - MIR: What further evidence is there to support the argument that eyewitness
testimonies are unreliable on the basis of memory? - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔-
Deffenbacher (1983) supported both the findings of both Freud and Loftus et al by indicating
from his meta-analysis of 21 studies that heightened emotions (particularly anxiety) was a
large predictor when it comes to inaccurate testimonies
AGAINST - MIR: What is a third piece of evidence that supports the argument that
eyewitness testimonies are unreliable on the basis of memory? - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔-
Oue et al (2001) believed that anxiety had acted to reduce witnesses' "field of view", as it was
found that their anxious participants on the edge of a scene had recalled less details than those
who witnessed emotionally neutral events
AGAINST - MIR: Upon reflecting on the evidence, how could it be argued that eyewitness
testimonies are unreliable on the basis of memory? - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- Witnesses'
memory is likely to be reconstructed as a result of heightened emotions (most commonly
identified being anxiety), which may be attributed to the situation at hand or specific
attributes of the perpetrator, thus resulting in inaccurate and/or incomplete testimonies and
ultimately wrongful convictions
AGAINST - MIR: What type of implications has eyewitness testimonies being unreliable on
the basis of memory had? - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- Social
AGAINST - MIR: How have eyewitness testimonies being unreliable on the basis of memory
had negative social implications? - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- The inability to gain an
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