Transcript The Psychology of the Eyewitness Testimony

Memory – Introduction and
Application
Three stages of processing an event
Encoding
Storage
Retrieval
Factors that can affect memory in these
three stages
•Encoding stage factors
Violence, Unconscious Transference, Divided
Attention
•Storage stage factors
Time factors
•Retrieval stage factors
Expectations, Misremembering
Three Steps in Processing an
Important Event:
•The encoding stage--perception of the original
event
•The storage stage--time between the event
and the recollection of a piece of information
•The retrieval stage--recall of the stored
information
Encoding Stage Factors:
Violence
•Weapons Focus - Loftus.
•Violence towards a Child - Loftus and Burns
Unconscious Transference
•Donald Thompson - falsely accused
•Robbery in the Cafeteria - Ross and Ceci
Divided Attention
Storage Stage Factors
Time Factors
•A Self Test
•How Long Before We Forget?-Shepherd
Shepard Results
100
99.7%
92%
% Recalled 90
87%
80
70
57.7%
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2
Hrs.
3
Days
7
Days
4
Mths.
Retrieval Stage Factors
Expectations
•Telephone game - Allport and Postman
Mis-remembering
•Mis-remembering and the
Just Desserts Case
•Misinformation Effect - Loftus
Three Experimental Situations in
the Misinformation Paradigm (Loftus)
•Subjects view an event
•Subjects are exposed to (misleading)
information about the event
•Subjects recall the event to see if the
misleading information has had an effect
How fast were the cars going when
they ******* each other?
Contacted
Hit
Bumped
Collided into
Smashed into
Loftus 1 Speed estimates for the different
verbs used in the witness question
50
Estimated Speed
40
38mph
32mph
39mph
41mph
34mph
30
20
10
0
Contacted
Hit
Bumped Collided
Smashed