Testimony of eyewitnesses found to be easily altered by peer pressure … conformity outweighs memory

‘Groundbreaking research by forensic psychologist Dara Mojtahedi has found that eyewitness recollection can be distorted easily by other people’s views, and he is calling on courts and police to keep this in mind when considering the testimony of witnesses.
In one study, he showed groups of volunteers, who would serve as “witnesses,” footage of a real-life violent incident. Afterward, some people were allowed to talk amongst themselves. He found that these people’s recollection of what happened in the video was easily distorted by those they conversed with, including eyewitnesses who the researcher enlisted to suggest that the wrong man was the instigator of the fight seen in the video. This influence led many of the “witnesses” to make inaccurate statements.’
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