Criminal Psychology - Yarmey 2004

YARMEY 2004

The aim of the study was to study the reliability of eyewitness testimony in a task that involves the recall of an eyewitness and the photo identification of a target in a line-up. The study was completed in the field because Yarmey wanted valid results, as many other experiments had been conducted in laboratory environments.

There were 590 participants selected by opportunity sampling, the participant was approached by a female target who asked the participant to help with either directions or finding a lost piece of jewellery. Either two minutes or four hours later, the participant was approached by a researcher and asked to participate in the study and took at 12 part questionnaire which assessed their ability to recall the target's physical and clothing characteristics. The participant was then give a photo line-up with 6 photos and told the target may or may not be in the photos, and were asked to identify the woman.

The conditions were as follows:

• Prepared for the recall test (target would tell the participant they were to be tested)
• Time span between interaction with target and recall (either 2 minutes or 4 hours)
• The target may have worn a disguise (sunglasses and a cap)
• The target was present in the…