Forensic Psychology 4th edition by Joanna Pozzulo - Test Bank

Forensic Psychology 4th edition by Joanna Pozzulo – Test Bank

 

Instant Download – Complete Test Bank With Answers

 

 

Sample Questions Are Posted Below

 

Chapter 5: Multiple Choice

 

1) Describing the actions of a culprit during a police interview relies on ______________, while identifying the culprit’s voice from a set of voices relies on __________________.

1. narrative memory/refreshed memory
2. recall memory/recognition memory
3. natural memory/prompted memory
4. open-ended memory/direct question memory
5. none of the above

 

Answer: b

Diff: Moderate

Type: MC

Page Reference: 126-127

 

2) A witness who is testifying about what she remembers during a convenience store robbery is using what type of memory?

1. Repressed memory
2. Recognition memory
3. Recall memory
4. Refreshed memory
5. Reinstated memory

 

Answer: c

Diff: Moderate

Type: MC

Page Reference: 126-127

 

3) A witness is on the stand and says “that’s the man who did it” as she points to the defendant. What type of memory is she using in this judgment?

1. Repressed memory
2. Recognition memory
3. Recall memory
4. Refreshed memory
5. Reinstated memory

 

Answer: b

Diff: Moderate

Type: MC

Page Reference: 126-127

 

4) Which of the following is not one of the legislative changes proposed in the Safer Witnesses Act in 2012?

1. Making it easier for witnesses in provincial programs to obtain new identities.
2. Increasing the amount of time emergency protection may be provided to witnesses.
3. Making the program available to members referred from National Defence and CSIS.
4. Imposing new restrictions on the disclosure of information to make the program more secure.
5. Implementation of more rigorous screening and personality testing procedures to assure selection of suitable candidates.

 

Answer: e

Diff: Hard

Type: MC

Page Reference: 127-128

 

5) What is the most common research method for studying eyewitness issues?

1. field study
2. archival research
3. laboratory simulation study
4. recall study
5. recognition study

 

Answer: c

Diff: Easy

Type: MC

Page Reference: 128

 

6) Which of the following would be considered an estimator variable in eyewitness research?

1. how light it was outside when the crime was witnessed
2. the room where the witness was interviewed
3. the number of police officers present during the interview
4. the time of day when the witness was interviewed
5. the type of lineup presented to the witness

 

Answer: a

Diff: Moderate

Type: MC

Page Reference: 128

 

7) Which of the following would be considered a system variable in eyewitness research?

1. whether the witness is intoxicated at the time of the offence
2. the age of the witness
3. the type of weapon used by the culprit
4. the interview procedure used by the police officer
5. the time at which the crime was committed

 

Answer: d

Diff: Moderate

Type: MC

Page Reference: 128

 

8) Dr. Sander wants to conduct an experiment to examine whether memory is better for events that are witnessed versus events one is directly involved in (i.e., the victim). He sets up a staged event where participants arrive in groups of three to his study (one is a confederate), are asked to take out their wallets to show their photo ID, followed by the confederate who steals one participant’s wallet and runs off down the hall. Both participants (the witness and the victim) are questioned by campus security separately about what happened, and asked to identify the suspect out of a photo lineup.  In this example, the independent variable is:

1. What the confederate stole from the participant
2. Whether the memory is reported by a victim or a witness
3. How the participants were interviewed about the “crime”
4. Whether there were differences in correct or false identifications
5. How much information the participants reported

 

Answer: b

Diff: Hard

Type: MC

Page Reference: 128-129

 

9) Dr. Sander wants to conduct an experiment to examine whether memory is better for events that are witnessed versus events one is directly involved in. He sets up a staged event where participants arrive in groups of three to his study (one is a confederate), are asked to take out their wallets to show their photo ID, followed by the confederate who steals one participant’s wallet and runs off down the hall. Both participants (the witness and the victim) are questioned by campus security separately about what happened, and asked to identify the suspect out of a photo lineup.  In this example, the dependent variable is:

1. What the confederate stole from the participant
2. Whether the memory is reported by a victim or a witness
3. How the participants were interviewed about the “crime”
4. Whether there were differences in correct or false identifications
5. How much information the participants reported

 

Answer: d

Diff: Hard

Type: MC

Page Reference: 128-129

 

10) What has not been identified as a limitation of the standard police interview?

1. asking brief, direct questions
2. mixing visual and auditory questions
3. asking questions in a random order
4. asking very broad questions
5. frequent interruptions

 

Answer: d

Diff: Moderate

Type: MC

Page Reference: 130

 

11) ___________ is a phenomenon produced when what one witness says about a crime can affect what another witness will say, if those witnesses communicate with one another or come to learn what the other has reported.

1. The misinformation effect
2. The instructional bias
3. Memory conformity
4. Refreshed memory
5. The distractor bias

 

Answer: c

Diff: Moderate

Type: MC

Page Reference: 130

 

12) What is another term for the misinformation effect?

1. post-event information effect
2. free narrative effect
3. direct question recall
4. open-ended recall
5. closed ended recall effect

 

Answer: a

Diff: Easy

Type: MC

Page Reference: 131

 

13) What is the major implication of the studies conducted on the misinformation effect in eyewitness research?

1. Memory is like a videotape.
2. Witnesses yield to authority.
3. Memory is reconstructive.
4. Witnesses recall information accurately when under stress.
5. Memory typically gets better as witnesses get older.

 

Answer: c

Diff: Easy

Type: MC

Page Reference: 131-132

 

14) The belief that the misinformation effect results from instances where the original memory is replaced with a new, incorrect memory is referred to as:

1. the encoding rejection hypothesis
2. the source misattribution hypothesis
3. the memory impairment hypothesis
4. the misinformation acceptance hypothesis
5. the reconstructive memory hypothesis

 

Answer: c

Diff: Easy

Type: MC

Page Reference: 132

 

15) The belief that the misinformation effect results from a confusion between the accurate original memory and the inaccurate memory (as they can remember both but can’t remember where each memory came from) is referred to as:

1. the encoding rejection hypothesis
2. the source misattribution hypothesis
3. the memory impairment hypothesis
4. the misinformation acceptance hypothesis
5. the reconstructive memory hypothesis

 

Answer: b

Diff: Moderate

Type: MC

Page Reference: 132

 

16) Officer Newton has interviewed multiple witnesses in the same day in an ongoing murder investigation with multiple perpetrators. Witness 2 told him that one perpetrator had a scar on the left side of his face, yet in reality there was no scar on any of the suspects. When interviewing Witness 5 later, Officer Newton asks “was the perpetrator with the scar carrying a weapon?” The manner in which Officer Newton is questioning the witnesses demonstrates:

1. the cognitive interview technique
2. recognition memory
3. context reinstatement
4. the post-event information effect
5. memory conformity

 

Answer: d

Diff: Hard

Type: MC

Page Reference: 131-132

 

17) Which of the following statements is not correct concerning the outcome of hypnosis?

1. More information is recalled.
2. Participants report relatively more accurate information and less inaccurate information.
3. Participants express a high degree of confidence in their memory reports.
4. It is not possible to determine which statements are erroneous and which are correct.
5. reinstating context, recalling, recognizing, and forgetting
6. Age regression can be a technique used in hypnosis.

 

Answer: b

Diff: Moderate

Type: MC

Page Reference: 133

 

18) On what four memory-retrieval techniques is the cognitive interview based?

1. reinstating context, reporting everything, reversing order, and changing perspective
2. reinstating context, recalling, recognizing, and answering questions
3. encoding, short-term memory, long-term memory, and retrieving
4. encoding, storing, retrieving, and forgetting
5. reinstating context, recalling, recognizing, and forgetting

 

Answer: a

Diff: Easy

Type: MC

Page Reference: 134

 

19) Which of the following statements is true with respect to the cognitive interview and enhanced cognitive interview?

1. The enhanced cognitive interview incorporates all the elements of the cognitive interview.
2. Only some officers in Canada have been trained to use the cognitive interview.
3. No significant differences have been found between the effectiveness of the cognitive interview and that of the enhanced cognitive interview.
4. Compared to the standard police interview, the cognitive interview and enhanced cognitive interview produce more accurate information without an increase in inaccurate information.
5. all of the above

 

Answer: e

Diff: Moderate

Type: MC

Page Reference: 134-135

 

20) Which component is not part of the enhanced cognitive interview?

1. rapport building
2. transfer of control
3. focused retrieval
4. direct questioning
5. witness-compatible questioning

 

Answer: d

Diff: Easy

Type: MC

Page Reference: 134-135

 

21) Which two items did Lindsay, Martin, and Webber (1994) find that were commonly reported by witnesses?

1. gender and age
2. height and weight
3. hair and clothing
4. race and age
5. gender and clothing

 

Answer: c

Diff: Moderate

Type: MC

Page Reference: 135

 

22) Van Koppen and Lochun (1997) found which descriptor was reported with 100% accuracy?

1. age
2. sex
3. race
4. height
5. weight

 

Answer: b

Diff: Easy

Type: MC

Page Reference: 135-136

 

23) What is the difference between a suspect and a perpetrator?

1. The terms suspect and perpetrator can be used interchangeably; they mean the same thing.
2. A suspect is innocent and a perpetrator is guilty.
3. A suspect is guilty and a perpetrator is innocent.
4. A suspect can be guilty or innocent whereas a perpetrator is guilty.
5. A suspect is innocent and a perpetrator can be innocent or guilty.

 

Answer: d

Diff: Hard

Type: MC

Page Reference: 137

 

24) What increases the likelihood that innocent suspects may be wrongfully identified in a lineup?

1. having the suspect wear similar clothing to that worn by the culprit
2. implying the criminal is in the lineup
3. asking the witness specifically about the suspect and not about the other lineup members
4. using a simultaneous lineup procedure
5. all of the above

 

Answer: e

Diff: Moderate

Type: MC

Page Reference: 137-138

 

25) What type of decision is not possible with a target-present lineup?

1. correct identification
2. foil identification
3. false rejection
4. false identification
5. All of the above are possible identification decisions with the target-present lineup.

 

Answer: d

Diff: Hard

Type: MC

Page Reference: 138

 

26) An eyewitness is exposed to a target-present lineup and identifies someone from the lineup that the police know did not commit the crime. What sort of decision has this eyewitness just made?

1. a correct identification
2. a false rejection
3. a foil identification
4. a correct rejection
5. none of the above

 

Answer: c

Diff: Hard

Type: MC

Page Reference: 138

 

27) Youssef has just viewed a target-absent lineup, but he identified an innocent suspect as the perpetrator. What sort of decision has this eyewitness just made?

1. a correct identification
2. a false rejection
3. a foil identification
4. a correct rejection
5. a false identification

 

Answer: e

Diff: Hard

Type: MC

Page Reference: 138

 

28) In target-absent lineups, both false identifications and foil identifications can be referred to as:

1. true positives
2. false positives
3. true negatives
4. false negatives
5. none of the above

 

Answer: b

Diff: Hard

Type: MC

Page Reference: 138

 

29) What is not an advantage of using a photo array rather than a live lineup for eyewitness identification?

1. Photo arrays are easier to construct than live lineups.
2. Suspect does not have the right to counsel being present with a photo array, whereas he/she does have that right with a live lineup.
3. Photo arrays produce higher identification accuracy than live lineups.
4. A suspect need not be informed that he/she is being placed in a photo array, whereas with a live lineup he/she must be so informed.
5. The police do not have to worry about the suspect’s behaviour potentially invalidating the lineup.

 

Answer: c

Diff: Moderate

Type: MC

Page Reference: 139

 

30) According to the text, when an eyewitness simultaneously compares lineup members to one another and then makes a decision based on who they believe looks most like the perpetrator, they are making:

1. an absolute judgment
2. a false judgment
3. a relative judgment
4. a correct acceptance
5. none of the above

 

Answer: c

Diff: Moderate

Type: MC

Page Reference: 139

 

31) What is the critical difference between a simultaneous lineup and a sequential lineup?

1. Sequential lineups typically involve biased instructions.
2. Sequential lineups require absolute judgments.
3. Simultaneous lineups require absolute judgments.
4. Simultaneous lineups typically include more foils.
5. Sequential lineups require relative judgments.

 

Answer: b

Diff: Easy

Type: MC

Page Reference: 139

 

32) An eyewitness is shown a picture of an individual who the police think is responsible for a recent bank robbery. No other lineup photos are shown. The eyewitness is asked to state whether the person in the photograph is the same individual seen in the bank. What sort of lineup procedure is being used here?

1. a showup
2. a simultaneous lineup
3. a sequential lineup
4. a walk-by
5. an elimination lineup

 

Answer: a

Diff: Easy

Type: MC

Page Reference: 139-141

 

33) According to the text, which lineup procedure is considered most suggestive and is reserved only for certain extenuating circumstances?

1. a showup
2. a simultaneous lineup
3. a sequential lineup
4. a walk-by
5. an elimination lineup

 

Answer: a

Diff: Hard

Type: MC

Page Reference: 141

 

34) Alice was stabbed multiple times and is in critical condition in the hospital. The police detained a suspect leaving from the scene of the crime, and take the suspect to the hospital to see if Alice can identify him as the man who stabbed her. The police also are concerned that Alice might not make it through the night and want to get an ID as soon as possible. What type of lineup procedure is being used here?

1. a simultaneous lineup
2. a sequential lineup
3. a show up
4. a walk-by
5. an elimination lineup

 

Answer: c

Diff: Moderate

Type: MC

Page Reference: 141

 

35) Recent research by Megreya, Bindemann, Harvard, and Burton (2012) has found that the placement of a suspect’s photo in an array has an impact on identification. In particular, they found that:

1. suspects are more accurately identified when they are presented on the left side of an array.
2. foils on the left side were more likely to be inaccurately identified as the perpetrator.
3. placing the suspect’s photo within the first two photos increases the chances that the witness will select the suspect.
4. both suspects and foils are more likely to be identified when they are on the right side of an array.
5. suspects are least likely to be identified if their photos are placed near the end of an array.

 

Answer: b

Diff: Hard

Type: MC

Page Reference: 142

 

36) What typically happens when the eyewitness is told that the perpetrator may or may not be present in the lineup?

1. False positive identifications increase.
2. False positive identifications decrease.
3. Correct identifications increase.
4. Correct identifications decrease.
5. These instructions have no impact on identifications.

 

Answer: b

Diff: Hard

Type: MC

Page Reference: 142

 

37) Which of the following identification procedures takes place in a naturalistic environment?

1. a showup
2. a simultaneous lineup
3. a sequential lineup
4. a walk-by
5. an elimination lineup

 

Answer: d

Diff: Easy

Type: MC

Page Reference: 142

 

38) Julianne was attacked by a man that she described as short, blonde, and wearing a black hoodie. She is asked to come to the police station for an identification lineup, and the officer tells her the perpetrator may or may not be in the lineup. When she looks at the lineup members, she identifies #3 as the perpetrator as he has blond hair and all the other members of the lineup have dark brown or black hair. What type of bias is present in this lineup?

1. A suspect bias
2. A foil bias
3. A clothing bias
4. An instruction bias
5. A facial bias

 

Answer: b

Diff: Moderate

Type: MC

Page Reference: 142

 

39) A perpetrator has been described as a tall male, wearing glasses and a red toque. The police officer makes sure that all members of the lineup also are wearing glasses and toques. The officer is trying to avoid what type of bias?

1. A suspect bias
2. A foil bias
3. A clothing bias
4. An instruction bias
5. A facial bias

 

Answer: c

Diff: Easy

Type: MC

Page Reference: 142

 

40) What type of lineup was used by Charles Lindberg to identify Bruno Hauptmann, the man who kidnapped and murdered his infant son?

1. clothing
2. voice
3. face
4. body
5. none of the above

 

Answer: b

Diff: Easy

Type: MC

Page Reference: 142-143

 

41) Which of the following factors has been reported to increase correct identification in a voice lineup?

1. increasing the number of foils in the lineup
2. presenting the target voice later in the lineup
3. increasing the length of the voice samples
4. ensuring that the voice does not have an accent unfamiliar to the witness
5. both c and d

 

Answer: e

Diff: Hard

Type: MC

Page Reference: 142-143

 

42) According to the textbook, what is the primary issue surrounding the Neil v. Biggers (1972) case in relation to eyewitness accuracy?

1. the fact that the court stated that confidence of the witness should be seen as an indicator of accuracy
2. the fact that the witness was hypnotized and thus the information provided should not be admissible as accurate evidence in the trial
3. the fact that the witness was given a simultaneous rather than a sequential lineup
4. the fact that the witness was a child and thus the accuracy of her judgment was questionable
5. none of the above

 

Answer: a

Diff: Moderate

Type: MC

Page Reference: 144

 

43) Overall, there is ______________ between the accuracy and the confidence of an eyewitness in the identification of a perpetrator.

1. a large positive correlation
2. a small positive correlation
3. no correlation
4. a small negative correlation
5. a large negative correlation

 

Answer: b

Diff: Easy

Type: MC

Page Reference: 144

 

44) When presented with a target-absent lineup, older adults (over 60 years of age) tend to make ______________ correct identifications and __________________ correct rejections compared to younger adults.

1. fewer/more
2. more/fewer
3. a similar number of/fewer
4. fewer/a similar number of
5. a similar number of/more

 

Answer: c

Diff: Hard

Type: MC

Page Reference: 145-146

 

45) Which of the following is true regarding age and eyewitness identification?

1. Older adults are just as likely as younger adults to make a false positive decision from a target-absent lineup.
2. Generally, there are significant differences between younger and older adults’ ability to make correct identifications.
3. Younger and older eyewitnesses do not differ in their correct identification rate or false positive rate.
4. Overall, older adult eyewitnesses have more difficulty than younger adult eyewitnesses in making correct rejection decisions.
5. none of the above

 

Answer: d

Diff: Hard

Type: MC

Page Reference: 145-146

 

46) The hypothesis that explains the cross-race effect in eyewitness testimony by suggesting that the more contact you have with other races the better you will be able to identify them is:

1. the interracial contact hypothesis
2. the cue-utilization hypothesis
3. the unusualness hypothesis
4. the prejudice hypothesis
5. the physiognomic homogeneity hypothesis

 

Answer: a

Diff: Easy

Type: MC

Page Reference: 146-147

 

47) When the perpetrator is the same race as the witness, this tends to lead to:

1. lower false positives and higher true negatives relative to other-race identifications.
2. higher false identifications and lower correct rejections than other-race identifications.
3. higher foil identifications and higher false negatives than other-race identifications.
4. lower false identifications as well as lower true positives relative to other-race identifications.
5. higher correct identifications and lower false positives than other-race identifications.

 

Answer: e

Diff: Hard

Type: MC

Page Reference: 146-147

 

48) Which of the following explanations for the cross-race effect is most supported by empirical research?

1. the prejudice hypothesis
2. the cue-utilization hypothesis
3. the unusualness hypothesis
4. the interracial contact hypothesis
5. the physiognomic homogeneity hypothesis

 

Answer: d

Diff: Moderate

Type: MC

Page Reference: 146-147

 

49) Susan is being questioned by police after she witnessed a man rob a convenience store. The police are asking her questions about the perpetrator’s appearance, and she finds that all she can remember is that the man had a gun. What is the term used to describe this recall situation?

1. recall obstruction hypothesis
2. retrieval impairment hypothesis
3. weapon focus effect
4. central superiority hypothesis
5. peripheral inferiority effect

 

Answer: c

Diff: Hard

Type: MC

Page Reference: 147

 

50) Which of the following has been proposed as criticism of eyewitness research?

1. Eyewitness experts tend to be overconfident.
2. Most of the eyewitness studies recruit university students as participants.
3. A number of studies that have examined the same issues have reported discrepant results.
4. In eyewitness research, the time allotted for the participants (mock eyewitnesses) to view the culprit is too limited in comparison to real life.
5. all of the above

 

Answer: e

Diff: Moderate

Type: MC

Page Reference: 149

 

51) Approximately what percentage of wrongful conviction cases (exonerated through DNA evidence) have been attributed to eyewitness identification?

1. under 50%
2. 50-60%
3. 60-70%
4. about 75%
5. over 95%

 

Answer: d

Diff: Easy

Type: MC

Page Reference: 150-151

 

52) Which Canadian case involving poor police techniques in collecting eyewitness evidence resulted in a set of recommendations for conducting lineup identifications?

1. Neil v. Biggers
2. R. v. Sophonow
3. R. v. Brooks
4. R. v. Reno
5. R. v. Henderson

 

Answer: b

Diff: Moderate

Type: MC

Page Reference: 152-153

 

53) All of the following are recommendations made during the Sophonow inquiry concerning proper lineup procedures, except:

1. Officers should not discuss a witness’s identification decision with him or her.
2. Officers should inform witnesses that it is just as important to clear innocent suspects as it is to identify guilty suspects.
3. The photo lineup procedure with the witness should be videotaped or audiotaped.
4. All photo and in-person lineups should be timed, as witnesses who are accurate should be able to identify the perpetrator immediately.
5. The photo lineup should be presented sequentially.

 

Answer: d

Diff: Moderate

Type: MC

Page Reference: 153

 

Chapter 5: Short Answer

 

1) Distinguish between a system variable and an estimator variable as related to eyewitness research. Provide one example of each.

 

Answer:

• Estimator variable: a factor that can affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimony that is present at the time of the crime; a factor which is not under the control of the criminal justice system (e.g., witness age, race, eyesight, etc.; distance between witness and event; time of day the event occurred, etc.)
• System variable: a factor that can influence the accuracy of eyewitness testimony, which is under the control of the criminal justice system and can be manipulated after the fact (e.g., interview style, police officer gender, location of interview, lineup procedure, etc.)

 

Diff: Easy

Type: ES

Page Reference: 128

 

2) Distinguish between recall versus recognition tests of memory as dependent variables in research. Describe how recall and recognition responses made by witnesses can be examined.

 

Answer:

Recall of the crime or the perpetrator can take two formats. With open-ended recall, also known as a free narrative, witnesses are asked to either write or orally state all they remember about the event without the officer (or experimenter) asking questions. With this type of recall, the witness also may be asked to describe the perpetrator. With direct question recall, witnesses are asked a series of specific questions about the crime or the perpetrator.

A witness’s recall of the crime or the perpetrator can be examined for the following: (1) The amount of information reported. How many descriptors of the crime do witnesses report? How many descriptors of the perpetrator do witnesses report?; (2) The type of information reported. What is the proportion of peripheral details versus central details? What is the proportion of perpetrator details versus environment details?; (3) The accuracy of information reported. What is the proportion of correct descriptors reported? What is the proportion of omission errors (information the witness failed to report)? What is the proportion of commission errors (details falsely reported to be present)?

As for the recognition of the perpetrator, the typical recognition task is a lineup. A perpetrator lineup is a set of people presented to the witness, who in turn must identify the perpetrator if he or she is present.

A witness’s recognition response can be examined for the following: (1) Accuracy of decision. What is the rate of correctly identifying the perpetrator in the lineup? What is the rate of correctly stating that the perpetrator is not present in the lineup. (2) Types of errors made. What is the rate of identifying an innocent person? What is the rate of stating that the perpetrator is not present when he or she is actually in the lineup

Diff: Moderate

Type: ES

Page Reference: 128-129

 

3) Define the misinformation effect within the context of eyewitness research. In addition, fully describe the three most common explanations for this effect

 

Answer:

• The misinformation effect refers to the fact that providing misleading information in the retention interval (between witnessing an event and recalling an event) can decrease our ability to recall memories correctly (i.e., this misleading information may be incorporated into a subsequent recall task).
• Explanations for misinformation effect:
  1. Memory impairment hypothesis: An individual’s memories of the event details have truly been changed and therefore he/she incorrectly recalls the misleading information (i.e., the original information has been replaced, written over, displaced, etc. by the new misleading information).
  2. Source misattribution hypothesis: The individual is simply confused as to the source of the details reported, and because he/she sometimes attributes the information to the wrong source, the misleading information is  recalled (i.e., “Is this something that I actually experienced or was I told about this after the event actually occurred?”).
  3. Misinformation acceptance hypothesis: The individual guesses the answer on the basis of what he/she heard most recently or what he/she believes the researcher/officer wants to hear; therefore, the misleading information is often recalled.

 

Diff: Moderate

Type: ES

Page Reference: 130-132

 

4) State two difficulties with the use of hypnosis in the eyewitness context.

 

Answer:

• Individuals who are hypnotized recall more information but it is not possible to discern which information is correct and which information is incorrect.
• Individuals who are hypnotized recall both accurate and inaccurate details with the same degree of confidence.

 

Diff: Moderate

Type: ES

Page Reference: 133

 

5) In general terms, how does the enhanced cognitive interview differ from the original cognitive interview? Name and define three of the five techniques specific to the enhanced cognitive interview.

 

Answer:

• The enhanced cognitive interview includes all the memory retrieval techniques recommended for use in the cognitive interview, but in addition, the enhanced cognitive interview also includes various principles of social dynamics.
• Techniques specific to the enhanced cognitive interview:
  1. Rapport building: The officer should spend time building rapport with the witness, making sure they are comfortable, feel at ease, etc.
  2. Supportive interviewer behaviour: The officer should not interrupt the free recall process and should be attentive to what the witness is saying.
  3. Transfer of control: The witness should be the one to control the flow of the interview.
  4. Focused retrieval: As much as possible, questions should be open-ended, non-leading, and non-suggestive.
  5. Witness-compatible questioning: The officer’s questions should match the witness’s line of thought (i.e., if the witness is talking about the culprit’s appearance, the officer’s questions should match this topic).

 

Diff: Moderate

Type: ES

Page Reference: 134-135

 

6) List the correct decisions associated with both target-present and target-absent lineups. Also, list the potential errors that can be made in the lineup identification process and whether these errors are known or unknown to the police.

 

Answer:

• Target-present lineup: The correct decision is a correct identification.
• Target-absent lineup: The correct decision is a correct rejection.
• The potential errors associated with the lineup identification process include:
  1. Foil identification (known error to police) with a target-present or target-absent lineup
  2. False rejection (unknown error) with a target-present lineup
  3. False identification (unknown error) with a target-absent lineup

 

Diff: Hard

Type: ES

Page Reference: 138

 

7) List the five reasons why photo lineups are more common than live lineups.

 

Answer:

■    They are less time-consuming to construct. The police can choose foils from their mug shot (pictures of people who have been charged with crimes in the past) files rather than find live persons.

■    They are portable. The police are able to bring the photo array to the witness rather than have the witness go to the police department.

■    The suspect does not have the right to counsel being present when a witness looks at a photo array. This right is present with live lineups.

■    Because photos are static, the police need not worry that the suspect’s behaviour may draw attention to himself or herself, thus invalidating the photo array.

■    A witness may be less anxious examining a photo array than a live lineup.

 

Diff: Moderate

Type: ES

Page Reference: 139

 

8) Distinguish between a simultaneous and a sequential lineup.

 

Answer:

• Simultaneous lineup: The witness is presented with all lineup members at the same time; this involves a relative judgment (i.e., lineup members are compared to each other and the one that looks most like the culprit may be identified).
• Sequential lineup: The lineup members are presented to the witness serially. The witness must make a final decision on whether a given lineup member is the culprit before being presented with any other lineup member; this involves an absolute judgment (i.e., each lineup member is compared to the witness’s memory of the culprit and then a decision is made as to whether the particular lineup member is indeed the culprit).

 

Diff: Moderate

Type: ES

Page Reference: 139

 

9) Describe the three major types of biases that have been found to increase false positives in lineup identifications.

 

Answer:

1. 1. Foil bias. The suspect is the only lineup member who matches the description of the perpetrator. For example, the suspect has a beard and moustache while the other lineup members are clean-shaven (Lindsay, Lea, & Fulford, 1991).
2. 2. Clothing bias. The suspect is the only lineup member wearing similar clothing to that worn by the perpetrator. For example, the perpetrator was described as wearing a blue baseball cap. The suspect is wearing a blue baseball cap while the foils are not (Dysart, Lindsay, & Dupuis, 2006; Lindsay et al., 1991; Lindsay, Wallbridge, & Drennan, 1987).
3. 3. Instruction bias. The police fail to mention to the witness that the perpetrator may not be present; rather, the police imply that the perpetrator is present and that the witness should pick him or her out (Malpass & Devine, 1981; Steblay, 1997: Clark, 2005).

 

Diff: Moderate

Type: ES

Page Reference: 142

 

10) What is the cross-race effect? Describe the three common explanations as to why the cross-race effect occurs.

 

Answer:

The cross-race effect, also known as the other-race effect and the own-race bias, is the phenomenon of witnesses remembering faces of people of their own race with greater accuracy than they remember faces of people of other races.

• Attitudes One hypothesis to explain the other-race effect is based on attitudes. More specifically, people with less prejudicial attitudes may be more inclined to distinguish among members of other races. However, research to date does not support this explanation (Platz & Hosch, 1988; Slone, Brigham, & Meissner, 2000).
• Physiognomic Homogeneity An alternative hypothesis to explain the other-race effect suggests that some races have less variability in their faces—that is, “they all look alike.” This hypothesis has not received much empirical support either.
• Interracial Contact Perhaps the hypothesis receiving the most attention examines the amount or type of contact people have had with other races. This hypothesis states that the more contact you have with other races, the better you will be able to identify them.

 

Diff: Moderate

Type: ES

Page Reference: 146-147

 

11) Distinguish between the cue-utilization hypothesis and the unusualness hypothesis as explanations for the weapon focus effect.

 

Answer:

The cue-utilization hypothesis was proposed by Easterbrook (1959) to explain why a witness may focus on the weapon rather than other details. The hypothesis suggests that when emotional arousal increases, attentional capacity decreases. With limited attentional capacity, central details, such as the weapon, are more likely to be encoded than are peripheral details, such as the colour of the perpetrator’s hair. There is limited support for this hypothesis.

 

An alternative explanation for the weapon focus phenomenon has to do with unusualness, in that weapons are unusual and thus attract a witness’s attention. Because a witness is not paying attention to and encoding other details, these other details are not remembered (Mitchell, Livosky, & Mather, 1998; Pickel, 1998). To follow this line of thinking, you would predict that not only weapons, but also other objects might produce a “weapon focus” effect, if they were unusual for the situation. Thus, there is support for the unusualness explanation for the weapon focus effect but it can be reversed depending on other “unusual” factors.

 

Diff: Moderate

Type: ES

Page Reference: 147-148

 

12) On the basis of the research you have read in the textbook, list five recommendations that you would make to police forces regarding how they should conduct police lineups.

 

Answer:

• The lineup administrator should not know who is the suspect (i.e., he/she should be blind to who is the suspect).
• The witness should be told that the culprit may not be present in the lineup.
• Lineup members (fillers, foils) should fit the description of the culprit provided by the witness and the suspect should not stand out as distinctive from the others.
• The entire lineup procedure should be videotaped.
• A statement should be taken regarding the confidence level of the eyewitness at the time of the identification and prior to the potential delivery of any feedback.
• Officers should inform witnesses that it is just as important to clear innocent suspects as it is to identify guilty suspects.
• Officers should not discuss a witness identification decision with the witness.

 

Diff: Moderate

Type: ES

Page Reference: 151-153