Bending Toward Justice in Eyewitness Identification Research

Publication Title

Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition

Document Type

Article

Department or Program

Psychology

Publication Date

2021

Keywords

Accuracy, Confidence, Eyewitness, Identification, Social context

Abstract

Comments on an article by M. B. Kovera and A. J. Evelo (see record 2021-79725-001). Kovera and Evelo argue that recent shifts toward cognitive psychology paradigms neglect important elements of the eyewitness experience, many of which are present in social psychological research paradigms and less so in cognitive psychology paradigms. Although both cognitive and social research arcs provide meaningful contributions to eyewitness research, Kovera and Evelo’s encouragement to direct attention to social factors is prudent for at least two reasons. First, on the surface, an eyewitness’s tasks seem almost entirely devoid of opportunities for social influence. Second, social variables must be studied because they have the potential to undermine the assumptions the legal system has for eyewitness evidence. The potential for a mismatch between the legal system’s assumptions about evidence and what is actually provided is not limited to the eyewitness context. As noted by Kovera and Evelo, junior faculty might be understandably hesitant to initiate paradigms in which data collection takes years before hypotheses can be tested. In addition to pursuing research on social factors, psychology should actively cultivate an ever-broader range of cultural and racial backgrounds among psychological scientists, recognizing how far the field has to go in this regard.

Comments

Original version is available from the publisher at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jarmac.2021.07.003

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