Four Psychological Factors Of Eyewitness Testimony

The dictionary defines eyewitness testimony as “the account a bystander gives in the courtroom, describing what that person observed that occurred during the specific incident under investigation.” As of right now, jury courts love to use eyewitness testimony as valid proof in court cases. However, based on recent research, psychologists have found that perhaps it is not as reliable as we all thought. In order to truly deem whether or not eyewitness testimony is admissible in the courtroom, we must look at four psychological factors: anxiety/stress experienced during the incident, a person’s ability to reconstruct a memory, whether or not there was a weapon involved due to weapon focus, and the way the question is posed to the witness. ( )

I was the driver and I had one passenger. The man that hit me was by himself. The only thing I know is that I was turning left through an intersection and as far as I remember, no one was in the oncoming lane - making it acceptable for me to turn. I did not see a car coming towards me, and neither did my passenger. The man claims that he was driving straight and that I failed to yield to him. However, neither of us recalls seeing a vehicle coming towards us or even seeing his headlights in the black of the night. All I can remember is everything going black for a short second, the white of the airbags, the grey of the smoke, and the nasty burnt smell that emitted from my car. I looked down and realized I was alive and then looked over in sheer terror to see if my best friend was okay. I yelled for her but she wasn’t giving much of a response. Physically, she looked fine and her eyelids were moving so I knew she would be fine. At that point, I smelled the smoke and began to feel extremely claustrophobic. In pure panic, I rushed to open the windows and to get out of the car. I was tugging and pulling to get out and couldn’t move until I realized my seatbelt was still on! When I got out, I think I heard a man’s voice

A few minutes after the accident had happened my friend asked me if I heard her scream… I said “No.” Then, a few days later I spoke with the nurse on campus and she was rambling about how car accidents are terrible and how “you’ll never forget that God awful sound.” I thought to myself, “I have no idea what you’re talking about, I don’t remember the sound of it.” So, if I could not remember the sound, then why is it that when I accidentally crashed into my co worker holding plates and glasses a few days after, I instantly started crying and panicking after hearing the loud, horrible sound the clanking of the dishes made? I cannot explain the sound it made, nor can I remember it, but I associated the plates crashing with the sound of two cars crashing. I believe these are questions that will haunt me for the rest of my life. The only thing that could change that is if I was shown video footage of the accident. Then, I would be at some kind of