Dozens of people witness a purse snatching. One of the eyewitnesses loudly yells “the man with the blue shirt did it.” Later, when questioned by police, several other eyewitnesses remember the purse snatcher wearing a blue shirt, even though the purse snatcher was a woman in flowered dress. This is an example of __: the effects of misinformation from external sources that leads to the creation of false memories. A) reconstruction B) suggestibility C) sexism D) recognition
The Correct Answer and Explanation is:
The correct answer is: B) suggestibility
This scenario is an example of suggestibility, which refers to the tendency to incorporate misleading or incorrect information from outside sources into personal recollections. In this case, even though the actual purse snatcher was a woman in a flowered dress, one eyewitness loudly and confidently claimed that the thief was “the man with the blue shirt.” This misinformation influenced the memories of other witnesses, who then falsely remembered the same incorrect detail.
Suggestibility often occurs because human memory is not like a video recording; it is malleable and can be reshaped by new information. When someone hears a confident statement about an event, even if it is inaccurate, their brain may blend that information with their actual memory. This blending can lead them to genuinely believe the incorrect detail as part of their own experience.
Psychological studies, particularly those by Elizabeth Loftus, have shown that eyewitness memory can be extremely vulnerable to suggestion. For example, in experiments, participants who were given false details about a witnessed event often later reported those details as if they had actually seen them. This has serious implications in real-world contexts like criminal investigations, where eyewitness testimonies can be critical and influential in determining guilt or innocence.
This example is not reconstruction, which involves rebuilding memories during recall, or recognition, which refers to identifying previously learned information. It is also not sexism, since the scenario describes a cognitive error caused by misleading external input, not gender-based bias.
In summary, suggestibility explains how false memories can be formed due to misleading statements from others. It shows how human memory is influenced not just by what we see, but also by what others say we saw.
