INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
These variables are generally anything that creates a person's belief system. Their age, gender, race, even personality can conjure up implicit attitudes towards their everyday perceptions. Once a criminal act has occurred and there are witnesses of such a crime, the next question is how do we piece together the puzzle and find the suspect. As humans, we claim our memory to never fail in times of traumatic experiences. The idea that one would never forget a memory so impactful. Based on the impact of the estimator variables and the influence of the system variables explained in earlier pages, our minds may trick us and create heuristics that would lead to misinformation susceptibility (Bulevich, 2011).
Implicit Biases
Mahzarin Banaji (Harvard University) and Brian Nosek (University of Virginia) conducted a study of how implicit biases effect decision making. Consciously, people have their views on sexism and racism, but the implicit biases driven by society and our upbringing can reside deep within our minds. The less information an eyewitness has on the details of the crime, the more likely they are to use those previous experiences and generalizations to piece together what they saw in present day scenarios. It is important that first responders get the eyewitness separated from others and interviewed in ample time in order to gain the most raw and uninfluenced information.
Memory
Modern research on memory suggests that memory is malleable, and even prone to being influenced. The reconstruction process is a witness's best ability to recall the experience by piecing together bits of the actual event, outsourced details from the event, (magazine or news channels) and events prior to the present one that they try to use as an influence (Turtle, 2008).
Flashbulb Memories
These memories provide vivid, specific details recovered because of a meaningful or sometimes traumatic event. Inaccuracies can accumulate over time and these memories are still subject to the reconstructive process. People confidently report the accuracy of these memories more so than everyday memories overtime (Turtle, 2008).
References
Bulevich, J., & Thomas, A. (2011). Retrieval effort improves memory and metamemory in the face of misinformation. Journal of Memory and Language, 45-58.
Turtle, J., & Want, S. (2008). Logic and Research Versus Intuition and Past Practice as Guides to Gathering and Evaluating Eyewitness Evidence. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 1241-1256.
Implicit Biases
Mahzarin Banaji (Harvard University) and Brian Nosek (University of Virginia) conducted a study of how implicit biases effect decision making. Consciously, people have their views on sexism and racism, but the implicit biases driven by society and our upbringing can reside deep within our minds. The less information an eyewitness has on the details of the crime, the more likely they are to use those previous experiences and generalizations to piece together what they saw in present day scenarios. It is important that first responders get the eyewitness separated from others and interviewed in ample time in order to gain the most raw and uninfluenced information.
Memory
Modern research on memory suggests that memory is malleable, and even prone to being influenced. The reconstruction process is a witness's best ability to recall the experience by piecing together bits of the actual event, outsourced details from the event, (magazine or news channels) and events prior to the present one that they try to use as an influence (Turtle, 2008).
Flashbulb Memories
These memories provide vivid, specific details recovered because of a meaningful or sometimes traumatic event. Inaccuracies can accumulate over time and these memories are still subject to the reconstructive process. People confidently report the accuracy of these memories more so than everyday memories overtime (Turtle, 2008).
References
Bulevich, J., & Thomas, A. (2011). Retrieval effort improves memory and metamemory in the face of misinformation. Journal of Memory and Language, 45-58.
Turtle, J., & Want, S. (2008). Logic and Research Versus Intuition and Past Practice as Guides to Gathering and Evaluating Eyewitness Evidence. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 1241-1256.