How does positive feedback affect the way participants remember the crime video?
ID: 3495936 • Letter: H
Question
How does positive feedback affect the way participants remember the crime video? Feedback makes participants less willing to testify about what they saw in the video. Feedback causes all participants to be absolutely certain that they identified the correct man in the video. Feedback causes participants to remember the video with greater confidence. Feedback has no effect on the participants estimate of how much attention they paid to the man's face in the video. In 1984, an intruder broke into the home of Jennifer Thompson, a 22-year-old student, and sexually assaulted her. In the initial stages of the subsequent investigation, the police showed Jennifer a photo array of men matching the description she gave of the intruder. She chose a photo of Ronald Cotton and identified him as the assailant. At a later point in the investigation, Jennifer identified Ronald Cotton as her attacker a second time by choosing him from a lineup. Mr. Cotton spent 11 years in prison before DNA testing proved that someone else, a man named Bobby Poole, had actually attacked Jennifer. Although correct procedures were followed in the investigation, a combination of several factors led to Jennifer's confident and persuasive testimony during Ronald Cotton's trial. Which of the following presents a scenario where positive feedback could have impacted Jennifer's identification of her assailant? Jennifer was given only ten minutes to identify her attacker from the lineup. Jennifer was shown several photos simultaneously rather than a sequence of photos. Jennifer was not informed that her attacker might not be in the lineup. Officers told Jennifer that the man she identified in the photo array had been involved in other breaking-and-entering crimes.Explanation / Answer
Eyewitness Testimony plays an important role in retrieving information from an individual's memory. Sometimes, memory can be difficult to recall and it may be distorted, however, other times it is constructed. Eyewitness testimony means, evidence given by a person who has witnessed a crime. Our judicial system places special emphasis on witnesses in any crime scenarios. It is a misconception that eyewitnesses are accurate. The infomation given by eyewitnesses can easily be swayed by the leading questions presented by the officers or authorities interrogating them. An individual begins to believe that he may have seen something in the act of a crime, when in reality he may have not seen anything like that. This is known as suggestibility.
It is possible for an individual to associate their memory to a wrong source. For instance, an person may claim to have identify the person who committed the crime in the police lineup, but the prepetrator may not even be present in the lineup. The individual mistakes the presence of the perpetrator as his/her face may seem familiar to them and thus, attribute their memory to the wrong source. This could lead to a serious punishment to an innocent individual.
Positive feedback causes participants to remember the crime video with greater confidence because they now feel, given that they have watched the video, they would be able to recall the perpetrator involved better because the video will help them recollect the needed information.
Thus, the answer is C.
In the second multiple choice question, Jennifer attributed her memory to the wrong source and claimed Mr. Cottons to be the perpetrator, however, it turns out that it it was Bobby. The above happened, because Jennifer was given additional information, called suggestibility. She instead of retrieving, constructed a memory, due to the additional information provided to her by the officers. Hence, she concluded that Mr. Cotton was her perpetrator.
Thus, the answer is D.
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