Stephen, Thanks for sharing the link. I think this analysis is the most accurate one I have read and is one that can be used in the classroom when discussing perceptions particularly if you have a diverse group. This incident will be particularly useful in my teaching since I grew up with Skip Gates in the small town of Piedmont, WV and I teach roughly 20 miles from there so many of my students will relate to the local connection.
Bill Bill Southerly, PhD Department of Psychology Frostburg State University Frostburg, MD 21532 301-687-4778 [email protected] -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Sun 7/26/2009 4:06 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: [tips] Gates, Crowley, and eyewitness testimony There's an interesting essay on the Gates-Crowley mess on the Associated Press website by Jesse Washington titled, " Analysis: What they saw during the Gates arrest". According to Crowley's police report, the neighbour who called the police told Crawley on the sidewalk outside Gates' house that "she observed what appeared to be two black men with backpacks on the porch ... her suspicions were aroused when she observed one of the men wedging his shoulder into the door". What Crawley says about this I find striking in this day and age when I would expect police to be educated in one of the strongest findings of psychological forensic research. "Witnesses are inherently reliable," he said later. "She told me what she saw." Would the outcome of this unfortunate encounter have been different if Crowley had known that this belief is not true, that eyewitness testimony is inherently unreliable? http://tinyurl.com/n7lunt Stephen ----------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University e-mail: [email protected] 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Subscribe to discussion list (TIPS) for the teaching of psychology at http://flightline.highline.edu/sfrantz/tips/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
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