Factors affecting EWT

Question 1

What is an eye witness testimony?

Answer 1

Where witnesses describe what they saw during the accident or crime whereby they may need to attend court however the account may not be as accurate

Question 2

What 2 factors may affect the trustworthiness of EWT?

Answer 2

1) Weapon focus

2) Post-event information

Question 3

Describe how post-event information can affect reliability of EWT

Answer 3

• Witnesses are often interviewed over a period of time after the event in which they may be exposed to information they did not already have
• Information remembered can be changed due to confabulation/rationalisation of events that don’t conform to an individuals schema
• Information remembered can also be changed through leading questions that may suggest something being there when a witness doesn’t remember it so they will assume they forgot and answer as if they remembered that something happening

Question 4

Describe how weapon focus can affect reliability of EWT

Answer 4

• Weapon focus refers to the concentration of a crime witness’s attention on a weapon, and the resultant reduction in ability to remember other details of a crime
• Attentional narrowing leaves no attention for things happening in a witnesses peripheral vision where valuable parts of the crime may be taking place
• Yerkes-Dodson Law can explain this through stress arousal whereby the presence of a weapon may lead to over-arousal and so memory performance will be bad