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Eye Witness Testimony

Eye Witness Testimony. EWT. What is EWT?. An eye witness is anyone who has witnessed an event (usually a crime). Testimony is a statement given by the witness as an account of what happened. How may factors affecting perception affect EWT?. Reconstructive memory

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Eye Witness Testimony

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  1. Eye Witness Testimony EWT

  2. What is EWT? • An eye witness is anyone who has witnessed an event (usually a crime). • Testimony is a statement given by the witness as an account of what happened.

  3. How may factors affecting perception affect EWT? • Reconstructive memory • Schema driven errors (Bartlett) • Effect of leading words • Reconstructive hypothesis (Carmicheal) • Other factors (More in AS and A2) • Weapon focus • Effects of anxiety/arousal • Age of witness www.psychlotron.org.uk

  4. Reconstructive Memory • Bartlett (1932) • Memory is not a direct record of what was witnessed • What is encoded and how it is retrieved depends on: • Information already stored in memory • How this info is understood, structured and organised www.psychlotron.org.uk

  5. Reconstructive Memory • Schemas • Knowledge structures that relate to commonly encountered objects, situations or people • Enable us to predict events, make sense of unfamiliar circumstances, organise our own behaviour • Act as filters to perception & recall www.psychlotron.org.uk

  6. Computer Information Processing BANG! Can you wreck a nice beach? www.psychlotron.org.uk

  7. Can you wreck a nice beach? Schema Driven Processing Yes. I can recognise speech. www.psychlotron.org.uk

  8. Input Schema Output ‘Pickaxe’ ‘Turf cutter’ Carmichael (1932) www.psychlotron.org.uk

  9. EWT: Schema Driven Errors • Witnesses to crimes filter information during acquisition & recall • Their schematic understanding may influence how info is both stored & retrieved • Distortions may occur without the witness realising www.psychlotron.org.uk

  10. EWT: Schema Driven Errors • Past experiences • Assumptions about what usually happens • Stereotypes & beliefs about crime & criminals www.psychlotron.org.uk

  11. Look at this picture

  12. Write down a description of what is happening in the picture

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