Question

Eyewitness identification is one of the least reliable types of evidence. Explain why this is so and provide an example of how an eyewitness can tend to be error-prone? In detail.

Answer 1

Elizabeth Loftus conducted important research on the reliability of eyewitness identification and testimony. In her study, she showed a video recording of a simulated vehicle accident at an intersection with a stop sign. Later, the participants were told that there was a yield sign at the intersection. Afterwards, the participants were asked to describe what they saw on the footage. The participant who were told that there was a yield sign, described with confidence that there was a yield sign: the remaining participants, on the other hand, were more accurate in their description.

This distortion in memory happens when an information is given to a person after the incident has occurred, which distorts their recollection of events. This phenomenon is known as the misinformation effect. For Example. An ice skating athlete has a terrible accident when performing because he made a wrong jump at the wrong time, but when he is later told that his partner's position was wrong, he believes that it was his partners fault.