The purpose of the article by Zimmerman, Austin and Kovera(2012) was review previous research into suggestive eyewitness identification procedures, including the methodology of the research conducted and to investigate the future implications of this and what research still needs to be done in the field. This important because eyewitness identification by way of lineups is a key method used in the criminal justice system to identify perpetrator and there it is important how to ensure optimal accuracy and minimum suggestibility.
The process of conducting lineups has been likened to an experiment and similar to an experiment biases can be created during the lineup procedure. In field and lab research, …show more content…
Biased Lineup Instructions: Examining the Effects of Pressure on Children’s and Adults Eyewitness identification accuracy
Introduction
The purpose of the study by Pozzulo and Dempsey (2006) was to observe the effects that neutral vs biased lineup instructions have on children and adults identification decisions. The study is relevant to the field of law and psychology because lineup are often used in the criminal justice system for witnesses to make identifications.
Method
In experiment 1, there were 139 participants. 55 of the participants were adults ages 18-42 who were recruited from a first year psychology and were compensated in the form of class credit. 84 of the participants were children in grade 5 through 8, ages 10-14. The IV was whether the lineup instructions were biased or not. The DV was accuracy of identification measured by frequency of correctly rejecting the lineup and false-positive identifications. The design of the study was a 2 by 2 between-subjects …show more content…
Furthermore when subjected to biased conditions both adults and children had high false positive rates but children appear to be more prone to making false positive mistakes than adults. The limitations this study are that the researchers were unable to tease apart factors other than age or pressure of the lineup that may contribute to the effects seen. The results of the study are important because they provided insight into the effect that biased instructions have on eyewitnesses when they are viewing a