Eyewitness testimony

Definition

Eyewitness testimony refers to the account given by individuals who have observed an event, particularly in the context of legal proceedings. This type of testimony is crucial in criminal cases, as it can significantly influence the outcome by shaping the perceptions of judges and juries. However, it is subject to various factors that can affect its reliability, such as memory distortions and the influence of external information.

5 Must Know Facts For Your Next Test

1. Eyewitness testimony is often considered powerful evidence in court, but research shows it can be surprisingly unreliable due to factors like stress and the passage of time.
2. The confidence level of an eyewitness does not always correlate with the accuracy of their testimony, meaning a confident witness can still be wrong.
3. Studies have shown that leading questions can alter an eyewitness's memory, leading them to recall details that never actually happened.
4. Change blindness can play a significant role in eyewitness accounts, where individuals fail to notice changes in their environment during a critical event.
5. Eyewitnesses can be influenced by post-event information, leading to the incorporation of inaccurate details into their memory of the original event.

Review Questions

• How do factors such as stress and time impact the reliability of eyewitness testimony?
  • Factors like stress during the event and the passage of time can significantly compromise the reliability of eyewitness testimony. When individuals experience high stress, their ability to encode memories accurately may be impaired, resulting in distorted recollections. Additionally, as time elapses, memories can fade or become altered, making it difficult for witnesses to provide an accurate account of what they observed.
• In what ways can leading questions affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimony?
  • Leading questions can substantially impact the accuracy of eyewitness testimony by introducing suggestions that may alter how witnesses recall events. When witnesses are asked questions that imply certain details or direct them towards specific responses, they may unintentionally incorporate these suggestions into their memory. This can lead to misremembering facts or even fabricating entire details that were never part of the original event.
• Evaluate the implications of change blindness on the reliability of eyewitness testimony in legal settings.
  • Change blindness has critical implications for the reliability of eyewitness testimony because it highlights how witnesses might overlook significant details during an event. This inability to detect changes can result in incomplete or inaccurate accounts when witnesses are asked to testify about what they saw. In legal settings, this challenges the notion that eyewitnesses are reliable sources of evidence and suggests that caution should be exercised when interpreting their accounts, given that they may not fully grasp what transpired due to change blindness.

Related terms

Memory distortion: A phenomenon where a person's recollection of an event is altered or influenced by factors such as suggestion or misinformation.

Leading questions: Questions that are phrased in a way that suggests a particular answer or response, which can distort a witness's recollection of an event.

Misinformation effect: A psychological phenomenon where a person's memory of an event becomes less accurate due to exposure to misleading information after the event.