Traveling home from a long-day at work quickly became a stressful situation for my friend when a woman hit the back quarter panel on the right side of her car. She pulled over to the side of the road, and quickly tried to gather enough information about the situation to help determine whose fault this accident would be. She had crossed a two-way stop intersection, her car being at the stop sign, and the woman’s car being on the road without a stop sign. She crossed the intersection with enough time to clear, but had to slow down due to traffic in front of her. The woman then hit the very back of her car, causing a small fender-bender. In many different traffic accidents, it is difficult to deem whose fault it is without eyewitness accounts.
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When the lady began telling the witnesses that they must have seen my friend run a stop sign, the misinformation effect began to take place. The eyewitnesses then were exposed to a different possible story after initially seeing the accident, in which caused them to second guess what really did happen at that intersection. Eye witness accounts can be very unreliable for traffic accidents and even criminal convictions. A specific example in the realm of criminal convictions would be if an eyewitness was given the picture of a possible perpetrator after the incident, in which they could believe that the picture was of the exact perpetrator (Lacy & Stark, …show more content…
For instance, in the traffic incident with my friend, the woman who hit her could have easily spoke to one of the witnesses before the police arrived coaxing them into believing that the other witness will ‘definitely’ say that they saw my friend run the stop sign. Any positive reinforcement towards one particular view of the situation, will boost the confidence of the eyewitness and their account of the situation. An example of a criminal conviction and positive reinforcement would be the likelihood that a witness would choose a perpetrator knowing that other witnesses chose that individual as well because it helps boost confidence in their story (Lacy & Stark, 2013). The misinformation effect is a prime example of the lack of credibility in some eyewitness accounts. Therefore it is important to consider substantial evidence over the memory of another individual. If the woman who hit my friends car would have never talked to the eyewitnesses before the police arrived, there’s a possibility that my friend would have not been cited with running a stop sign that she really didn’t
When the lady began telling the witnesses that they must have seen my friend run a stop sign, the misinformation effect began to take place. The eyewitnesses then were exposed to a different possible story after initially seeing the accident, in which caused them to second guess what really did happen at that intersection. Eye witness accounts can be very unreliable for traffic accidents and even criminal convictions. A specific example in the realm of criminal convictions would be if an eyewitness was given the picture of a possible perpetrator after the incident, in which they could believe that the picture was of the exact perpetrator (Lacy & Stark, …show more content…
For instance, in the traffic incident with my friend, the woman who hit her could have easily spoke to one of the witnesses before the police arrived coaxing them into believing that the other witness will ‘definitely’ say that they saw my friend run the stop sign. Any positive reinforcement towards one particular view of the situation, will boost the confidence of the eyewitness and their account of the situation. An example of a criminal conviction and positive reinforcement would be the likelihood that a witness would choose a perpetrator knowing that other witnesses chose that individual as well because it helps boost confidence in their story (Lacy & Stark, 2013). The misinformation effect is a prime example of the lack of credibility in some eyewitness accounts. Therefore it is important to consider substantial evidence over the memory of another individual. If the woman who hit my friends car would have never talked to the eyewitnesses before the police arrived, there’s a possibility that my friend would have not been cited with running a stop sign that she really didn’t