Postevent information and the impairment of eyewitness memory : a methodological examination

Recent work in the cognitive psychology of memory suggests that misleading information may permanently alter memory for an event. This work, which takes much of its impetus from the prospect of applying itself to the legal question of eyewitness evidence, has recently come under severe criticism. McCloskey & Zaragoza (1985a, 1985b) provide evidence to suggest that the experimental design used by almost all relevant studies is seriously flawed, and that results which appear to indicate the deleterious effect of misinformation on memory are artefactual. An analysis of the misinformation paradigm is presented here, with particular attention being paid to the claim of artifactuality. Two lines of approach are adopted in the analysis. In the first, the misinformation paradigm is assessed for its theoretical basis. The notion of 'application' that informs the paradigm is subjected to conceptual scrutiny, and the body of research that constitutes the paradigm is reviewed in terms of its applied orientation. In the second line of approach, the claim of artifactuality is investigated directly. Three methods are devised to test the claim of artifactuality. In two of these, post-hoc analyses are performed, one of which suggests that the claim of artifactuality is incorrect in at least some respects. The third method is constituted by an experiment which submits the claim of artifactuality to exhaustive empirical test. The results of the experiment support the claim that findings of memorial alteration are artefactual. The two lines of approach are united by showing how the experimental work developed out of the applied basis of the paradigm.· It is argued that the inadequacies in the experimental design reflect the impoverished theoretical basis of the research. It is further argued that the question regarding the effect that false information has on memory for an event is one that is still. eminently worth pursuing. A few preliminary remarks are made regarding applied considerations relevant to this pursuit

Musings on social cohesion in South Africa

[BOOK REVIEW]Ballantine, Christopher, Chapman, Michael, Erwin, Kira & Maré, Gerhard (eds) (2017) (2015) Living together, living apart: Social cohesion in a future South Africa. Pietermaritzburg: UKZN Press. ISBN 978-1-86914-332-9 pbk. Pages vii + 197 This slim volume offers a set of short essays on a range of topics, loosely bound together by the subtitle of the book – the question of social cohesion in South Africa. What does the phrase “social cohesion” mean, though? The editors ask this question at the outset, and conclude that it seems like a social goal that cannot be argued against (who would argue that “social cohesion” is a bad thing for a society to have?). For that reason, and because it appears to mean so much in governmental and intellectual circles in South Africa, the editors offer us the reflections of a diverse array of scholars and authors. Philosophy, Linguistics, Literature, Music, Legal Studies, Sociology, Developmental Studies, Genetics, Urban Geography, and Physics, are some of the home disciplines of the authors who apply themselves to the question(s) at hand

Evaluating the fairness of identification parades with measures of facial similarity

Bibliography: pages 239-248.This thesis addresses a practical problem. The problem concerns the evaluation of 'identification parades', or 'lineups', which are frequently used by police to secure evidence of identification. It is well recognised that this evidence is frequently unreliable, and has led on occasion to tragic miscarriages of justice. A review of South African law is conducted and reported in the thesis, and shows that the legal treatment of identification parades centres on the requirement that parades should be composed of people of similar appearance to the suspect. I argue that it is not possible, in practice, to assess whether this requirement has been met and that this is a significant failing. Psychological work on identification parades includes the development of measures of parade fairness, and the investigation of alternate lineup structures. Measures of parade fairness suggested in the literature are indirectly derived, though; and I argue that they fail to address the question of physical similarity. In addition, I develop ways of reasoning inferentially (statistically) with measures of parade fairness, and suggest a new measure of parade fairness. The absence of a direct measure of similarity constitutes the rationale for the empirical component of the thesis. I propose a measure of facial similarity, in which the similarity of two faces is defined as the Euclidean distance between them in a principal component space, or representational basis. (The space is determined by treating a set of digitized faces as numerical vectors, and by submitting these to principal component analysis). A similar definition is provided for 'facial distinctiveness', namely as the distance of a face from the origin or centroid of the space. The validity of the proposed similarity measure is investigated in several ways, in a total of seven studies, involving approximately 700 subjects. 350 frontal face images and 280 profile face images were collected for use as experimental materials, and as the source for the component space underlying the similarity measure. The weight of the evidence, particularly from a set of similarity rating tasks, suggests that the measure corresponds reasonably well to perceptions of facial similarity. Results from a mock witness experiment showed that it is also strongly, and monotonically related to standard measures of lineup fairness. Evidence from several investigations of the distinctiveness measure, on the other hand, showed that it does not appear to be related to perceptions of facial distinctiveness. An additional empirical investigation examined the relation between target-foil similarity and identification performance. Performance was greater for lineups of low similarity, both when the perpetrator was present, and when the perpetrator was absent. The consequences of this for the understanding of lineup construction and evaluation are discussed

On the micro-ecology of racial division: A neglected dimension of segregation

This article provides a general background to this special focus section of the journal on ‘racial interaction and isolation in everyday life’. It reviews both the geographic literature on segregation and the psychological literature on the contact hypothesis, and calls for more research on how, when and why racial isolation manifests at a microecological level; that is, the level at which individuals actually encounter one another in situations of bodily co-presence. Some conceptual and methodological implications of this extension of the segregation literature are described. The social psychological signifi cance of the racial organisation of such ordinary activities as eating in cafeterias, relaxing on beaches and occupying public seating are also explored. The focus of the argument is that everyday boundary processes may maintain the salience of racial categories, embody racial attitudes and regulate the possibility of intimate contact

Utilisation and usefulness of face composites in the South African Police Service - an evaluation study

The current study investigates the degree to which face composites are utilised as an investigative tool in the South African Police Service. The article provides an overview of the conditions under which composites are produced by eyewitnesses to a crime, and points out constraints in terms of their usefulness and applicability. Composites were found to be produced after a longer delay than is recommended, and predominantly in violent and menacing crimes. Conviction rates for composite-related crimes were very low. However, more insight into actual use and case characteristics is needed before concluding on the usefulness of composites as an investigative tool or evidence. Directions for further research in this area are explored

Mobile phones and reading for enjoyment: evidence of use and behaviour change

A South African non-profit organisation, FunDza, launched a programme that delivers reading material via mobile phones. Computer log files of user activity over an eight-month period were analysed (N = 9,212,716), which showed that relatively large numbers of readers made use of the material (N = 65,533), and read a substantial amount of the material. We found evidence of positive shifts in reading behaviour. Further analysis showed that greater levels of participation in the programme were associated with greater enjoyment of reading. Furthermore, the longer participants read, the more confident they felt about their self-rated reading proficienc

Tracing the consequences of child poverty

Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. Using life course analysis from the Young Lives study of 12,000 children growing up in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam over the past 15 years, this book draws on evidence on two cohorts of children, aged from 1 to 15 and from 8 to 22. It examines how poverty affects children’s development in low and middle income countries, and how policy has been used to improve their lives, then goes on to show when key developmental differences occur. It uses new evidence to develop a framework of what matters most and when and outlines effective policy approaches to inform the no-one left behind Sustainable Development Goal agenda

Tracing the consequences of child poverty

Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. Using life course analysis from the Young Lives study of 12,000 children growing up in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam over the past 15 years, this book draws on evidence on two cohorts of children, aged from 1 to 15 and from 8 to 22. It examines how poverty affects children’s development in low and middle income countries, and how policy has been used to improve their lives, then goes on to show when key developmental differences occur. It uses new evidence to develop a framework of what matters most and when and outlines effective policy approaches to inform the no-one left behind Sustainable Development Goal agenda