Ch 15: Social Psych in Court Part 1: Apr. 26, 2013

Eyewitness Identifications Research on eyewitness memory – Weighted heavily in trials, but how accurate? One cause of wrongful conviction Recent cases w/DNA evidence overturning verdict Juries are influenced by eyewitnesses Is confidence & accuracy correlated? Discredited eyewitnesses? Loftus study -

The case of Jennifer Thompson’s assault Details of her case: How did eyewitness memory come into play? How did DNA testing come into play?

Memory Research on memory: 3 important stages 1) Acquisition Impact of stress on memory acquisition Social perception & the unexpected - Impact of weapons Impact of race - Own-race bias

2) Storage: Loftus’ research on the misinformation effect: What is the misinformation effect? How has she examined this in lab studies? Car crash example – stop sign vs. yield sign: Wording of questions (leading questions?):