Question

Describe the misinformation effect, source monitoring, and overconfidence. Discuss the Ronald Cotton Video and its implication for eyewitness testimony.

Answer 1

Misinformation Effect: Based on the work of Elizabeth Loftus. It is episodic memory becoming less accurate due to post event information interfering with the recall of the actual event. This explains how our memories can become unreliable and inaccurate.

Source Error: Source monitoring is the error of memory where the source of memory is wrongly attributed. This means that person may have heard about a story or event from one person but recalls that they heard it from another person or source, which could even be a film or news etc.

Overconfidence Effect: This is when someone overestimates their knowledge and believes it is better than it actually is. Overconfidence effect happens when people are overly confident about their judgments.