Question 1

System variables are

Accepted Answer

C

Question 2

The presence of a weapon during the witnessing of a crime often affects

Accepted Answer

D

Question 3

In one of Loftus's studies, a first group of subjects was asked how fast the car was going "when it ran the stop sign" whereas a second group was asked how fast the car was going "when it turned right." When later asked if they had seen a stop sign,

Accepted Answer

The study by Loftus demonstrated the misinformation effect, where the phrasing of a question can influence memory recall. The first group, exposed to the suggestion of a stop sign, had a higher percentage of affirmative responses compared to the second group.

Question 4

Bob was attacked by a drunken man with a knife. It is possible that the presence of this weapon affected Bob's memory of

Accepted Answer

The answer of Bob was attacked by a drunken man...

Question 5

_________________________ is when someone unconsciously selects the information he or she will focus on and process most likely because of having a limited attentional capacity and an inability to process a lot of information at one time.

Accepted Answer

Selective attention is the process by which a person focuses on certain stimuli in the environment while ignoring others, due to the limited capacity to process all the information received at once.

Question 6

Diane was the sole witness to a crime. After witnessing the crime, she talked with her husband and her co-workers about what she saw. These discussions potentially can taint her memory of the crime event for it can

Accepted Answer

Discussing the event with others can introduce new information or perspectives that may alter or distort Diane's original memory of the crime, a phenomenon known as the misinformation effect.

Question 7

Last night Laura was robbed at gunpoint. When asked to describe the perpetrator, she found that all she could remember was the gun and not the way the perpetrator looked. Which of the best following describes this circumstance?

Accepted Answer

This phenomenon is known as the "weapon focus effect," where witnesses to a crime disproportionately focus on a weapon present, impairing their ability to remember other details such as the appearance of the perpetrator.

Question 8

Sometimes police just look for evidence that implicates a suspect that has been identified by an eyewitness and stop investigating any other leads. This situation illustrates

Accepted Answer

Confirmation bias occurs when individuals focus on evidence that supports their preconceptions or hypotheses while neglecting or undervaluing evidence that could refute them. In the scenario described, the police's focus on evidence that implicates a suspect identified by an eyewitness, to the exclusion of other leads, exemplifies confirmation bias.

Question 9

Meta-analyses of 53 studies showed that the longer the retention interval,

Accepted Answer

Meta-analyses of 53 studies indicate that as the retention interval increases, memory loss for previously-seen faces also increases. This suggests that over time, people are more likely to forget faces they have seen before.

Question 10

According to the Innocence Project, 2015, mistaken identifications account for _________ of wrongful convictions revealed by DNA tests; more than false confessions, problems with snitches, and defective or fraudulent science combined.

Accepted Answer

Mistaken identifications account for 72% of wrongful convictions revealed by DNA tests, according to the Innocence Project, making it a leading cause of wrongful convictions, surpassing issues like false confessions, problems with informants, and flawed science.

Question 11

During an extremely stressful situation, how is encoding affected?

Accepted Answer

During extremely stressful situations, encoding can often be incomplete because the high levels of stress impair the brain's ability to process information thoroughly and accurately.

Question 12

A robbery occurs at a liquor store. The clerk identifies the defendant in a police lineup. The defendant claims he had been in the store earlier to get change, but had not robbed the store. If the defendant is telling the truth, the clerk's identification would reflect

Accepted Answer

Unconscious transference occurs when a witness mistakenly identifies an innocent person as the perpetrator because they saw the innocent person in a different context, such as the defendant being in the store earlier for a legitimate reason.

Question 13

A researcher had one group of study participants witness a staged crime in which an older perpetrator stole items from a desk. A second group of study participants witness a staged crime in which a younger perpetrator stole the same items from the desk. After witnessing the crime, the witnesses are asked to report what they saw. The value of doing an experiment and controlling what is presented is that the researcher knows exactly what the witnesses saw. This is called

Accepted Answer

Ground truth refers to the objective fact or reality in an experiment, which in this case is the exact details of the staged crime witnessed by the participants. By controlling the experiment, the researcher ensures that the ground truth is known, allowing for accurate comparison of witness reports to what actually occurred.

Question 14

______________are the leading cause of wrongful convictions, particularly in cases of robbery and sexual assaults.

Accepted Answer

Eyewitness errors are a significant factor leading to wrongful convictions, especially in cases involving robberies and sexual assaults, due to issues like misidentification.

Question 15

In one study of soldiers' ability to make eyewitness identifications after being exposed to varying levels of stress in an interrogation, only ______ of soldiers who experienced high stress were able to make correct identifications.

Accepted Answer

The answer of In one study of soldiers' ability to...

Question 16

Which of the following would be considered an estimator variable in the dichotomy of eyewitness identification variables provided by Gary Wells?

Accepted Answer

Estimator variables are those that cannot be controlled by the legal system and include factors like lighting conditions at the time of the crime.

Question 17

Mistakes in the identification process typically occur

Accepted Answer

Mistakes in the identification process can occur both at the moment a crime is committed, due to factors like stress, poor visibility, or the brief time witnesses may have to observe the perpetrator, and during the investigation of a crime, due to issues like suggestive identification procedures or mismanagement of evidence.

Question 18

Only ____ states have laws that compensate individuals who were wrongly imprisoned.

Accepted Answer

32 states have laws that provide compensation to individuals who were wrongly imprisoned, acknowledging the injustice they suffered and attempting to offer restitution for the time they unjustly spent in prison.

Question 19

In 2009, the Supreme Court ruled that states are not required to make DNA evidence available to convicted offenders, due to which

Accepted Answer

The Supreme Court's ruling meant that convicted individuals might not access DNA evidence that could potentially prove their innocence, thereby making it difficult for wrongly convicted people to overturn their convictions.

Question 20

The case of Calvin C. Johnson provides an example of _________________________, or cases in which the police stop investigating other leads and focus only developing evidence against the suspects identified by eyewitnesses and believed to be guilty.

Accepted Answer

The case of Calvin C. Johnson is an example of confirmation bias, where once a suspect is identified, especially through eyewitness accounts, law enforcement may focus solely on gathering evidence that supports this initial identification, neglecting other leads or evidence that could point to different suspects.

Quiz 5: Eyewitnesses to Crimes and Accidents