Have you ever been an eyewitness at the scene of a crime? If you were, do you think that you would be able to accurately describe, in precise detail, everything that happened and remember distinct features of the suspect? Many people believe that yes they would be able to remember anything from the events that would happen and the different features of the suspect. Some people, in fact, are so sure of themselves after witnessing an event such as this that they are able to testify that what they think they saw was indeed what they saw. However, using an eyewitness as a source of evidence can be risky and is rarely 100% accurate. This can be proven by the theory of the possibility of false memory formation and the question of whether or not a memory can lie.
There have been several experiments done to try to prove that false memories can indeed be formed. One experiment, for example, was tried with a 14-year-old boy. The boy was told four memories, one of which was falsely constructed but similar to that of a true memory. The memories that were suggested took place when the boy was about 10 years younger. As the false memory was retold to him, he was asked to explain in detail what he had remembered from that event. Surprisingly, he claimed to remember the event, even though it was falsely created by the interviewer and his brother, and went on to explain what he remember to have happened, details and all. After collecting everything he had said about the four memories, he was told that one of the suggested memories was made-up and he was asked to guess which one it may have been. When he couldn’t decide which one it was, he was told that it was in fact the memory of getting lost in a store. He was confused and had trouble believing the truth.
Similar studies were done to a different set of college students and they tended to have the same results. After giving as much detail about each memory, the students were interviewed about what they may have written done about what they had remembered. During the last part of the experiment, each of the students were debriefed and asked to guess which memory they believed was false.
In the magic of the mind author Dr. Elizabeth loftus explains how a witness’s perception of an accident or crime is not always correct because people's memories are often imperfect. “Are we aware of our minds distortions of our past experiences? In most cases, the answer is no.” our minds can change the way we remember what we have seen or heard without realizing it uncertain witnesses “often identify the person who best matches recollection
The following two paragraphs are a summary of Gloria Jimenez's essay Against the Odds and Against the Common Good. States should neither allow nor encourage state-run lotteries. There are five major arguments that people use to defend lotteries. One is that most lotteries are run honestly, but if gambling is harmful to society it is irrelevant to argue if they are honest or not. The second is that lotteries create jobs, but there are only a small handful of jobs that would be eliminated if lotteries were put out of business. Another argument that would support keeping lotteries is that, other than gambling addicts, people freely choose to buy lottery tickets. This is true, however, there are misleading advertisements that may cause people to buy tickets under false pretenses.
“Why We Keep Playing the Lottery”, by freelance journalist Adam Piore takes a very in depth look as to what drives millions of Americans to continually play the lottery when their chances of winning are virtually non-existent. He believes that because the odds of winning the lottery are so small that Americans lose the ability to conceptualize how unlikely it is that they are going to win, and therefore the risk of playing has less to do with the outcome, and more to do with hope that they are feeling when they decide to play. It 's essentially, "a game where reason and logic are rendered obsolete, and hope and dreams are on sale." (Piore 700) He also states that many Americans would rather play the lottery thinking ,"boy, I could win $100 million" (705) as opposed to thinking about all of the money they could lose over time.
What people do not understand about the lottery is that they could play it for a million lifetimes and only ever win it 10 times. It is that difficult to win the national lottery that people calling it a tax on the poor is quite
This includes all forms of income from high to low and all races from black to white. A more financially set adult will spend more money gambling then the “minority and poor populations” as Will explains them. If these so called poor populations have no money will they be the ones flying all the way to Vegas spending money on gas, food, hotel, and entertainment? I think not the ones gambling are those who make a good living and can afford to spend thousands of dollars in Las Vegas. One thing all people can agree there is not a person out there that would wish to be average their whole life, everyone wants to be able to retire knowing they have money to send their kids to college or to even buy luxury items. This hope of one day winning it big is the reason people get up each day only to work long and hard hours at work as well as at home. People don’t just quit their job because they lost the lottery they will work many more days to buy a ticket and hope to win only to try again and again. People need something they can look forward to work hard and achieve things never done before and the lottery provides this for them. You take this away and the hard-working people no longer have anything to look forward to, nothing stops them from going out and doing
Winning the lottery is a dream most people have; it is magical thinking, believing that you, the ticket buyer will be the one defying all the odds. The only ones, from the hedonistic utilitarian standpoint whosehappiness will increase are those who actually win the lottery, a very small number from among all the players. The hedonistic utilitarian standpoint is not ethically recommendable because the lottery is only selling the dream of winning it while filling the state coffers with people’s hard earned money. (Brusseau, J. 2012)
Steffens, M., & Mecklenbräuker, S. (2007). False memories: Phenomena, theories, and implications. Zeitschrift Für Psychologie/Journal Of Psychology, 215(1), 12-24. doi:10.1027/0044-3409.215.1.12
There has been considerable debate worldwide, regarding the accuracy of eyewitness testimony in the criminal justice system. Particularly, arguments have surrounded wrongful convictions that have resulted from incorrect eyewitness evidence (Areh, 2011; Howitt, 2012; Nelson, Laney, Bowman-Fowler, Knowles, Davis & Loftus, 2011). The purpose of this essay is to consider psychological research about the accuracy of eyewitness testimony and its placement in the criminal justice system. Firstly, this essay will define how eyewitnesses and their testimonies are used within the criminal justice system and the current debate surrounding its usage. Secondly, the impact of post-identification feedback will be used to show the affect on the confidence of a witness. Thirdly, studies around gender related differences will show how a witnesses gender can affect memory recall and accuracy. Fourthly, empirical studies will be used to highlight how a psychological experience called change blindness can cause mistakes in eyewitness identification. Finally, the effect of cross-examination will be used to explore the impact on eyewitness accuracy. It will be argued, that eyewitness testimony is not accurate and highly subjective, therefore, the criminal justice system must reduce the impact that eyewitness testimony is allowed to have. Developing better policies and procedures to avoid wrongful convictions by misled judges and jury members can do this.
In the court of law, eyewitnesses are expected to present evidence based upon information they acquired visually. However, due to memory processing, presenting this information accurately is not always possible. This paper will discuss the reliability of eyewitness testimony, its use in a relevant court case, and how the reasonable person standard relates to eyewitness testimony.
Sadly, in this world we live in money, an inanimate object, speaks for itself. Since the lottery first became popular, multiple lotto jackpots exceed 100 million dollars every year, and have even reached $759,000,000 for one single payout to one single person (Largest Single US Lottery). Those kinds of payouts only make playing the lottery even more tempting to gamblers. Stories like the the ones of [insert name], who won a $5 scratch off from the local Shell gas station, also make the lottery sound more reasonable. Those types of tickets, called scratch offs, offer lower risks, with lower (but more frequent) rewards to people who want a little hands-on action. They keep the idea of playing more fun to
Memory is the tool we use to learn and think. We all use memory in our everyday lives. Memory is the mental faculty of retaining and recalling past experiences. We all reassure ourselves that our memories are accurate and precise. Many people believe that they would be able to remember anything from the event and the different features of the situation. Yet, people don’t realize the fact that the more you think about a situation the more likely the story will change. Our memories are not a camcorder or a camera. Our memory tends to be very selective and reconstructive.
“The Lottery” writing and film both shared the main idea of a lottery, with explanation of how brutal they were. In modern day, people believe traditions are a time for cheerful celebration. “The Lottery” proves this view is not always the case. People also look at lotteries as a positive event because the person typically wins a large amount of money. This is also a mistaken view after watching and reading “The Lottery.” The way humans view things are not always how they are meant to be
Body Obesity is a problem for both children (called childhood obesity) and old people. Its occurrence over the last ten year has increased greatly; it leads to many problems including medical complications, such as disease, reduced quality of life, and early death. Obesity amongst children is a burden to both parents and in terms of the budget to meet the cost of treating or combating obesity.
The advertisers spend about $300 million, which places them up in the top 50% of advertisers in the country (Borna & Stearns, p. 44). These advertisers can place these advertisements out there for marketing reasons and for these people to see; and trap them into the lottery by getting them to spend their money and take a chance at playing. What the state lotteries do is they get these people in with the advertisements of stating the many chances that they have of
These gamblers are the ones a majority of people see as having a genuine addiction. They are players who have lost control of the games being played. Typically, those who are compulsive gamblers effect those around them negatively (family, friends, & coworkers). Compulsive Gamblers can also have the tendency to lie a lot, steal, or get involved in embezzlement.() While working at a gas station once I have come across many types of gamblers. Very rarely though, do I see the compulsive ones. However, one time we had this man come in on the regular, requesting about $80 in scratch offs and bid his farewell. Unfortunately, we all knew he wasn’t going to leave. After scratching off all the tickets he had purchased, he would come to redeem a few of the winners in the pile and buy more. Myself and my coworkers always knew when he would come into the store, there was no chance he was going to leave without scratching off a big winner… no matter how many times the man would say “this is the last one.” Most of the time he would spend a good hour with us, before he decided to leave. It was always kind of sad to watch him play sometimes. His addiction always showed through his body language and tone of voice. So in addition to any other addiction in the world, gambling has rehab centers and doctors willing to help with those who cannot