Have you ever followed along a trial and watched the witnesses give their testimonies? Have you ever noticed that these witnesses that are being used to condemn a person can easily be manipulated to say things about their testimonies when prompted by the questions that they are being asked, either by the defense or prosecution? This happens quite a lot, and I’m sure it is no surprise to you that these same witnesses miss a lot when seeing these crimes play out. Have you also thought about a big event in your own life, such as the attacks on 9/11? Have you thought about the emotions that have played around them? It may be a surprise to you to hear that your memories of these events have probably been manipulated over time.

Many people are called to the stand during a trial. These people are witnesses of what happened and are giving their side of the story. However, their stories are quite often missing huge aspects of the real story. Witnesses often participate in what is known as weapons focus. According to Goldstein, weapons focus is “the tendency to focus attention on a weapon that results in a narrowing of attention.” The problem with this is that this tendency can cause witnesses to stop focusing on what the perpetrator looks like, especially when the weapon in question is a gun that was fired (Stanny & Johnson). These testimonies can also be manipulated through suggestion. This is seen when questions are posed in a certain way so the witness answers in a certain way, and when someone gives a positive response to a wrong or uncertain answer from a witness, causing them to believe their answer was correct. Another aspect that could affect witness testimony is how high emotions are running.

Another area of life where emotions are running quite high are in big moments when people create flashbulb memories. Flashbulb memories are memories created during moments of high emotional activity that have been claimed to be overwhelmingly accurate (Goldstein). The problem with these memories is that they are easily manipulated, kind of in the same way that witness memories can be manipulated. These memories are manipulated by what is known as the narrative rehearsal hypothesis, which simply states that we remember these events because they are rehearsed often after they occurred (Goldstein). Events such as 9/11 that can cause flashbulb memories are often replayed over and over again on the media. This can lead individuals to remember aspects of the memory differently after many years have passed, such as where they first heard about the event, what they heard about the event, and what happened during the event. This increase in variability can cause individuals to believe that flashbulb memories are false recollections of an event.

While most people remember these events quite well, and most of what they remember is actually quite accurate, there is quite a bit of variability for both witness testimonies and flashbulb memories. They are very susceptible to suggestion and emotion. While one wouldn’t say that these testimonies and memories are necessarily false recollections, they are susceptible to being recalled inaccurately because of the variability of these moments. In other words, witness testimonies are to flashbulb memories as flashbulb memories are to false recollections.

References

Goldstein, E. Bruce. Cognitive Psychology . 4th ed., Cengage Learning, 2015.

Stanny, Claudia J, and Thomas C Johnson. “Effects of Stress Induced by a Simulated Shooting on Recall by Police and Citizen Witnesses.” American Journal of Psychology, 2000, pp. 359–386.