www.falsely-accused.net Watch Dr. Lorandos as an Expert Witness on Suggestibility Defense Attorney Dr. Lorandos, I want to focus you on whether youve studied suggestibility. Lorandos: Well we had to. We were, when I say we I mean organized psychology, rather shocked at what occurred in some of the famous cases that weve all seen on television. Defense Attorney: Are you referring to McMartin? Lorandos: Well I wasnt going to name names. Defense Attorney: Did I ask you to get some footage from the original experimenters? Lorandos: Yes. This is a study called the mouse trap study and in this experiment they demonstrated that they could create the memory of events that never happened. What the examiners did was they went to a preschool and theyd play a little question game with them and the questions change from week to week, but theres one question that is the same every week for ten weeks. And so, this first little piece illustrates a little child being asked if you ever got your finger caught in a mouse trap. Video: Experimenter: This one says, Have you ever seen a baby alligator eating apples on an airplane? Preschooler: No Experimenter: No? Have you ever had your finger caught in a mouse trap and had to go to the hospital? Preschooler: No Experimenter: No? End Video Lorandos: Okay stop. You notice that if you just ask them, theyll tell you the truth. You dont have to pound away and say, Tell me more, tell me more, tell me more. Just ask them. But, what happens when theyre …
Linguists are frequently asked to help the police and courts when there is a dispute over the authorship of a written text — suicide note, abusive or threatening letter, email or text message. In this excerpt from his inaugural lecture, Professor Coulthard explains the concepts he used to help identify the authorship of text messages in a recent murder trial. The full lecture is available online at: streaming.aston.ac.uk Aston University is home to the world’s first centre for forensic linguistics. Find out more at: www.aston.ac.uk/forensic-linguistics
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