• Question: Would you be a good eyewitness to a crime?

    Asked by anon-184205 to Tom, sarahhodge, Owen, Nathan, Lorna, Abbie on 3 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Abbie Jordan

      Abbie Jordan answered on 3 Nov 2018:

      Good question! I really wouldn’t as I am hopeless as noticing details. If I passed Beyonce (or the equivalent) in the street I would not notice. We know the research suggests that we are not as good an eye witness anyway as we think we are and can quite easily be ‘led’. My youngest on the other hand notices all details and would be way better than I would.

      If it was more about irregularities in documents (type of crime) then I would be way better but in terms of eye witness, sadly not. At least I realise that I would not be!

    • Photo: Sarah Hodge

      Sarah Hodge answered on 5 Nov 2018:

      Hello, interesting question – We all as humans would want to yes to this question and having looked into the theory of this, I would still want to say yes! However, at same theory also tells us at how potentially unreiable humans can be, such as being infleunced by the questions we are asked afterwards and how long it has been since the crime.

      In short ‘No’ but I may have more awareness why I am not a good eyewitness.

    • Photo: Nathan Hook

      Nathan Hook answered on 5 Nov 2018:

      Personally, I have a big visual impairment so probably wouldn’t be a good witness. 🙂

      There is a sub discipline that studies questions like this called ‘forensic psychology’ (forensic just means relating to crime or law).

      For example, some lawyers try to ask the witness about obscure background details of the scene, to show their memory can’t be trusted. Psychologists as expert witnesses are needed to counter this, by showing that just because someone can’t remember a background detail doesn’t mean their memory of an important event is weak – our minds focus on things they consider important.

      While I was training in hypnotherapy this year I was taught not to try to use hypnosis to improve/recover memories. There is no evidence it helps, and it has a real risk of creating false memories. Interestingly there was some super recent research about using that in therapy – deliberately creating false positive memories so an adult might feel better about their childhood. Do you think that is good idea?

    • Photo: Tom Gallagher-Mitchell

      Tom Gallagher-Mitchell answered on 15 Nov 2018:

      I think I would do quite well. I’m detail oriented and would be able to give a good verbal description for an efit. I have taken part in face identification experiments and usually perform quite well

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