[20 points each] Answers to these questions are to be typed and turned in Thursday, April 17, during class.
In this section of the course we have read, viewed, and discussed a number of cases where an adult, after many years of not remembering, comes to recall some traumatic childhood event.
1. As clearly, concisely, and convincingly as you can, make the argument that these cases represent repressed/recovered memories. Make sure you state why the memories were repressed and why they were recovered. A good argument here will convince the reader that the false memory view is wrong.
2. As clearly, concisely, and convincingly as you can, make the argument that these cases represent false memories. Make sure you state why the memories were created. A good argument here will convince the reader that the repressed/recovered memory view is wrong.
[20 points each] Answers to these questions are to be typed and turned in Thursday during class.
[1.] Use material from the chapter on children's testimony to illustrate the fundamental difference/conflict between laboratory experiments and "real world" reports/experiences for psychological researchers interested in eyewitness testimony. Evaluate the data from Chapter 10. That is, what do we know about children's testimony? Does your answer depend primarily on the experiments or real-world reports for its support?
Note that this question really has three parts. The first deals with a technical description of the differences between information gained from laboratory experiments and the information gained from "real world" experience. The second part asks you to illustrate these differences with the material from Chapter 10. The third component of your answer should critically evaluate this particular area of research and you are asked to draw some conclusion about which type of data is most informative in this particular case.
[2.] Describe three different techniques that have been thought, at one time or another to facilitate memory retrieval in eyewitnesses. What is the underlying theory or logic that is thought to be responsible for the facilitation of performance for each technique? How good do the techniques work? That is, critically evaluate the usefulness of each technique.
Based on what you know about eyewitness testimony, how would you modify the technique that you think is best to make it even better?
10. [20 points] Answers to this question are to be typed and turned in Thursday during class.
We have discussed or read about face and voice line-ups in detail. In addition, we have mentioned in passing the potential usefulness of clothing line-ups.
[A] What factors should be kept in mind when setting up all three types of line-ups? What factors must be kept in mind to keep the line-ups fair?
[B] Briefly describe the factors that will lead to the most accurate identification. Be sure you describe what you mean by accurate identification.
[C] As far as I know, no one has studied the usefulness of conducting all three types of line-up for the same witness/suspect pairings. What are the advantages and disadvantages of doing this, in principle? Under what condtions would it be useful or not useful?
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