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A level Psychology > cognition and law > Flashcards

cognition and law Flashcards

1
Q

what are the processes involved in recognition of faces

A

face identification
face recognition
face recall

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2
Q

study to show difference in ability to recognise and identify faces

A

Bahrick: people were asked to recognise/identify faces of present and former students when they were shown sets of five faces, 4 of them were distractors.

recognition was better than identification but memory faded over time`

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3
Q

what are the explanations for face recognition

A 
feature analysis (bottom up)
holistic (top down)
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4
Q

what is feature analysis

A

analysing features is the key to face recognition

visual cues include: light and shade of face, texture of skin and hair

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5
Q

shepherd study

A

shepherd: investigated how features are used in free recall descriptions
people described unfamiliar faces after seeing a picture of them briefly - the features most used in description: hair eyes nose mouth eyebrows chin and forehead

this suggests faces of people we don’t know are recalled used the main features of a face

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6
Q

studies supporting feature analysis theory

A

shepherd

Ellis

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7
Q

ellis study

A

descriptions of less familiar faces focus more on external facial features such as hair and face shape

recalling familiar faces we use internal features (eyes nose mouth)`

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8
Q

Davies study

A

Davies; produce a list of features from a verbal description and use the description to make up a likeness which traditionally compromises 5 features - hair eyes nose mouth and jawline

Davies: people found this difficult even when the real face was in front of them

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9
Q

studies that do not support feature analysis theory

A

davies

woodhead

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10
Q

woodhead study

A

participants spent 3 days learning to recognise features features like full mouth thin mouth etc and then took part in recognition tests

participants who had undergone the feature training were less able to identify someone than control participants

individual facial features are less important - faces are stored as a whole instead?

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11
Q

evaluation of feature analysis theory

A
  • shepherd + ellis = features are used in face recognition
  • bottom up is unlikely (woodhead study)
  • neglects importance of other information for recognition - facial expression
  • single features are not easily recognised without the entire face (tanaka and farah)
  • cannot explain why altering the configuration of a face interferes with recognition
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12
Q

what is the holistic form theory

A

top down approach
recognising a face requires stored semantic and emotional information

a face is recognised as a whole, analysing the relationship between features, feelings aroused by the face and semantic information about the person

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13
Q

studies supporting holistic form

A

young and hay
ellis
yin

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14
Q

young and hay study

A

pictures of famous people were cut in half horizontally and participants recognition times for the people in the two separate halves were recorded - these halves were then combined

recognition time from the halves were much longer when two were put together as a composite

overall layout of the face is equally if not more important

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15
Q

yin study

A

upside down or inverted faces are much harder to recognise

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16
Q

how does prosopagnosia support the holistic form theory

A

emotional recognition without an awareness of knowing the person (can also be used as evidence against as the FRU was skipped but not the PIN)

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17
Q

how does capgras support the holistic form theory

A

cognitive recognition without emotional recognition

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18
Q

what is the holistic form model by bruce and young

A

1) facial recognition: structurally encoded
2) if face matches an existing Face Recognition Unit (FRU) then this will be activated
3) FRU triggers the Person Identity Node (PIN): the face is recognised whe nthe PIN is activated
4) name generation: can only be accessed via the PIN

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19
Q

evaluation of holistic form theory

A
  • can explain and predict everyday observations
  • strong evidence supporting the top down theory
  • cannot explain prosopagnosia
  • criticised over the lack of information about how we recognise less familiar faces
  • model was revised by burton
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20
Q

what was burtons revised model

A

allows for semantic links between PINS for different individuals eg recognising someone better in the environment we met them in eg school photos

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21
Q

what are composite systems

A

eyewitness descriptions used to build likenesses of possible offenders constructed from separate facial features

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22
Q

what are the types of early composite systems

A

identikit and photofit

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23
Q

discuss early composite systems

A

early paper based systems - referred to as first generation composite systems: had very low success rates

the witness selects features from a bank of noses, mouths and so on and are then combined to make a real face

24
Q

discuss second generation composite systems and how they were better than the first generation

A

these second generation systems were superior to the original composite systems in three ways:

  • separate features combine into a face without the distracting lines on the face
  • allows for artistic enhancement - features can be blended
  • features can be moved to a slightly different position on the face/exaggerated or minimised
25
Q

ellis’ composite study

A

composite images produced with the target person present were no better than those constructed from memory that were hand drawn

hand drawn images have a better likeness than the composites

26
Q

tanaka and farah composite/holistic form study

A

participants were trained until they could name a series of composite faces correctly eg bob, mathilda,

the faces were then presented as pairs, one was the original bob and the other was a bob with an altered feature (different nose)
the participants were then required to look at the different features and identify which was the correct feature from the faces they originally saw

participants were able to identify which was he original bob and identify which feature changed
however they found it difficult to identify the correct feature when it was not with the face

isolated features are much harder to identify which supports the hollistic theory and can explain why composite systems that require the witness to choose features in isolation is of limited use

27
Q

what is the problem with composite systems

what is the facial superiority effect

A

the witness is required to identify features in isolation before they can make up the entire face
tanaka and farah’s study shows how this can be a problem

the ability to recognise faces more easily than separate features in isolation

28
Q

what system has been used to combat the problem composite systems face

A

efit in the uk - witnesses describe the person to the system and the operator builds up the features first and adds average components in where there are gaps in the description

the witness views the whole face and states the changes that need to be made - this has shown to be an improvement on photofit likenesses under certain conditions, mostly where the target face is familiar to the witness

29
Q

what are the types of identification procedures police use

A

simultaneous and sequential

30
Q

what is a simulaneous line up and what is the problem caused by it

A

typically 8 foils and one suspect are presented at the same time which allows the witness to compare the options available
this means theres a possibility of relative judgement where the witness just chooses the person most like their memory
this means the witness is more likely to choose a perpetrator BUT can lead to a greater chance of false identifications

31
Q

what is a sequential line up and what is the problem caused by it

A

line up members are presented one by one and the witness states whether they match their memory of ht perpetrator or not
this means they can only have an absolute judgement
this means the witness is less likely to choose a perpetrator BUT there are less false identifications

32
Q

what else could affect the identification of a perpetrator aside from the types of line up

A

the choice of wording in the question - people are less likely to make false identications when the authorative figure says “the suspect may or MAY NOT be present”

33
Q

malpass and devine line up study

A

witnesses were asked to identify a suspect

1) “which of these is the person you saw?”
2) “the suspect may or may not be here”

the rate of false identifications was much higher in condition 1) than 2)

34
Q

what did lindsay and wells do?

A

devised the sequential line up to avoid the problem of relative judgements and encourages witnesses to make absolute judgement about whether or not each person in the line up matches their memory

35
Q

steblay study

A

sequential line up meta analysis

sequential line ups reduce false identifications but the culprit is more likely to get away

36
Q

aside from choice of wording and type of line up, what are the other factors

A

appearance of the foils
demand characteristics
feedback

37
Q

how does the appearance of foils affect the outcome of line up procedures

A

the foils and suspects must look at least a little similar

only in this way the identifications could have any validity

38
Q

how does the demand characteristics affect the outcome of line up procedures

A

the police in charge may drop hints or the witness may pick up unintentional hints from the officer if they are directly involved in the case

39
Q

how does the feedback affect the outcome of line up procedures

A

if witnesses believe they made the right judgement and are confident - they are more likely to affect a trial

40
Q

what is viper and why is it better?

A

VIPER was developed by police

easier to set up lineups
can be done at home/hospital
less biased by operator

41
Q

evaluate VIPER

A

sequential (absolute judgement)
prodcedural variables such as the length of time the witness views each member of the line up are controlled
less chance of demand characteristics
database ensures the availability of a large number of foils
very few VIPER lineups are cancelled
will become the norm

42
Q

factors affecting eyewitness accounts

A 
post event contamination
emotion
weapon focus
context
expectation and stereotypes
43
Q

what is post event contamination

A

memory of an event is adversely affected after the event. it can happen for a number of reasons, the most popular being questioning

Questioning can distort memory:

  • Leading questions (influence recall)
  • Non existent items can be inserted into memory
  • deleting and replacing information can transform
44
Q

Loftus’ study supporting post event contamination: questioning where non existent items were inserted

A

two groups watched a car accident scene, the experimental group was asked “how fast was the car going when it passed the barn while travelling along the country road” and the control group were asked the truth “how was the car goin when it passed the stop sign”

17% of people in the experimental group reported seeing the barn which shows a non existent item can be inserted into a witnesses’ memory

45
Q

evaluation of eyewitness accounts

A

eyewitness identification is often unreliable, this means a single eyewitness can’t be used to convict

less weight is given to single eyewitness identifications and other sources of evidence are expected to be used to support the eyewitness report.

46
Q

how does witness discussion affect eyewitness accounts, discuss wright’s study supporting this

A

post event discussion between witnesses might lead to distortion of memory

two groups were created and shown different pictures of a woman stealing a wallet and another of a woman with an accomplice when stealing the wallet. each participant was paired together (cond. A + cond. B).
they found 79% of participant pairs tended to agree with eachother even though they had seen different images

47
Q

evaluation of eyewitness accounts being affected by witness discussion and questioning

A

studies show that memory can be contaminated after the event by the words used in questioning

factors limiting the influence of leading questions on our memory for events, obvious misleading questions have no effect on memory

less crucial details are more easily distorted than facts (easier to distort the detail about something else like a stolen item than the face of the robber)

48
Q

how does emotion/stress affect eyewitness accounts and a study

A

anxiety caused by exposure to a traumatic event which may affect the accuracy of eyewitness recall. witnessing real crime is more stressful than lab studies so memory is even more affected?

despite evidence on recall, yuille and cutshall showed that witnesses of a real life incident had remarkably accurate memories of a stressful event involving weapons even though two misleading questions were inserted by the research team

49
Q

evaluation of emotion affecting eyewitness accounts

A

there are cases of real life recall where memory for an emotional event is accurate (flashbulb)
misleading questions need not have the same effect as has been found in lab studies

50
Q

how does weapon focus affect eyewitness accounts and a study for this

A

a factor that relates to emotion and stress (yulle and cutshall study)
witness’ attention is drawn to the weapon they recall few other details

Loftus: people focused on the video where a gun was present rather than when the customer just handed money

51
Q

how does context affect eyewitness acounts and a study for this

A

being in the same surroundings as where the event happened helps recall

Malpass and Devine:a group given information about the room where they were a witness to vandalism found recall easier than the control group (memory and forgetting cues)

52
Q

how does expectations and stereotypes affect eyewitness accounts and a study for this

A

witness accounts often reflect commonly held stereotypes

Howitt: ‘different origins’ were replaced with ‘ two black men’ showing racial stereotypical racist assumptions

53
Q

how to improve eyewitness recall?

A

Cognitive interview:

  • reinstates the context of the crime for the witness by asking them about their general activities and day
  • witnesses are encouraged to report every single detail as it can act as a trigger
  • asked to recall in a different order (more likely to think aboout it)
  • report from different perspectives (more likely to think about it)
54
Q

evaluate the cognitive interview:

A

improves recall in many circumstances
less effective and may lead to poor recall in young children under 6 years
enhancing effect wears off other time
cannot improve identification of a suspect

55
Q

how does age affect eyewitness accounts

A

children are less accurate than adults and are much more susceptible to suggestion
less able to detach memories experienced by others

A level Psychology (4 decks)

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