Eyewitness Accuracy is Key

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Eyewitness Accuracy
Though most people would not purposefully give a false identification, a false identification is not uncommon when eyewitnesses are looking at a lineup. This can happen for a number of reasons. A witness may be confused or there may be a memory error. Pressure they feel to make an identification may lead the witness to not notice that the perpetrator is not even in the lineup. Knowing this society must look for ways to correct or minimize this problem.
The concern about inadvertent influence on a witness is not a new question that the legal system and police forces are facing. However it is one with no easy answer. It is not always obvious what influences an eyewitness or makes the eyewitnesses feel pressured. This study looks at how inaccurate information given from a lineup administrator can affect the witnesses’ accuracy.
Current research shows that the attire of the lineup administrator can lead to a higher feeling of pressure to make a choice and lower accuracy even if the target is present in lineup (Lowenstein, Blank, & Sauer, 2010). There are many people who have an internalized (and not always conscious) need to please authority figures. To make a correct choice can fulfil a personal satisfaction of feeling like one has made the correct answer. The Lowenstein study shows how that need can cause one can react to the presence of a uniform by needing to make “the correct choice,” to appease authority and receive the self-satisfaction of getting the perp.
Another factor is social pressure and a need to conform or fit in. Human instinct separates those around a person as an “us” or a “them” and subconsciously the brain fears that not being and “us” proposes a risk. Being asked in part of a group those ...

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...al of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 15(1), 63–75.
Gabbert, F., Memon, A., & Allan, K. (2007). Memory Conformity: Can Eyewitnesses Influence Each Other’s Memories for an Event? APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY , 533-543.
Lowenstein, J. A., Blank, H., & Sauer, J. D. (2010). Uniforms Affect the Accuracy of Children’s Eyewitness Identifi cation Decisions. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profi ling , 59-73.
Lus, E., & Wells, G. L. (1994). The Malleability of Eyewitness Confidence: Co-Witness and Perseverance Effects. Journal of Applied Psychology, 79(5), 714-723.
Vrij, A., Pannell, H., & Ost, J. (n.d.). The influence of social pressure and black clothing on crime judgements.
Zajac, R. (2009). Don't it make my brown eyes blue: Co-Witness misinformation about a target's apperence can impare target-absent line-up performance. Psychology Press, 17(3), 266-278.

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