Stephan Charman

Last updated

Stephen Charman is a forensic and legal psychologist who is known for his research in eyewitness memory. [1] Charman is an associate professor of psychology at Florida International University. [1]

Contents

Education

Charman received his Bachelors of Science degree in Psychology from Queens University. [2] He attended graduate school at Iowa State University where he obtained a Master in Science and a PhD in Social Psychology. [2] Charman's dissertation was titled Using counterfactuals to assess eyewitnesses' abilities to estimate the effects of external influences on their lineup identifications and discusses the limitations to eyewitness reliability in a legal context. [3] Charman was mentored by Dr. Gary Wells, who he collaborated with on a number of articles and book chapters. [4] [5] [6]

Career

Charman began his career at Florida international University in 2006 as an assistant professor. [7] He became an associate professor in psychology in 2012 [7] and has since continued to teach and produce research as of 2024. [8] Iowa State University hosted The Psychology and Law Colloquia Series where Charman spoke on Improving lineup identification outcomes by screening out witnesses in September of 2019. [9]

Research

Charman's research has explored applied lineup theory [5] and the external bias that can affect eyewitness memory and testimony. [10] [11] Charman's research was awarded by the American Psychological Association (2011-2014), [12] National Institute of Justice (2021-2022; 2019-2023), [13] [14] and the National Science Foundation (2019-2025). [15] He has been the co-principal investigator on a grant awarded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. [1] [16] As of 2024, Charman has served as a peer reviewer for the following journals: Law and Human Behavior, Journal of Experimental Psychology, Applied Cognitive Psychology, Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, Current Directions in Psychological Science. [17]

Related Research Articles

In law, a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, either oral or written, of what they know or claim to know.

Legal psychology is a field focused on the application of psychological principles within the legal system and its interactions with individuals. Professionals in this area are involved in understanding, assessing, evaluating potential jurors, investigating crimes and crime scenes, conducting forensic investigations The term "legal psychology" distinguishes this practical branch of psychology from the more theory-oriented field of clinical psychology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Police lineup</span> Criminal justice identification process

A police lineup or identity parade is a process by which a crime victim or witness's putative identification of a suspect is confirmed to a level that can count as evidence at trial.

Kathy Pezdek is an American cognitive psychologist specializing in the study of eyewitness memory. She is a Professor and Associate Dean of the School of Behavioral and Organizational Sciences (SBOS), Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California. Dr. Pezdek is a cognitive psychologist specializing in the study of eyewitness memory. She frequently serves as an expert witness in the area of eyewitness identification and has testified on this topic in Federal, State and Superior Court cases. Her extensive research has focused on a range of topics related to Law and Psychology that apply to both adults and children. These topics include face memory, false memory, suggestibility of memory, lineup techniques, and detecting deception. Kathy Pezdek is a Fellow of the American Psychological Society, has served as Editor of Applied Cognitive Psychology and is currently on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Applied Psychology and Legal and Criminological Psychology.

The cross-race effect is the tendency to more easily recognize faces that belong to one's own racial group, or racial groups that one has been in contact with. In social psychology, the cross-race effect is described as the "ingroup advantage," whereas in other fields, the effect can be seen as a specific form of the "ingroup advantage" since it is only applied in interracial or inter-ethnic situations. The cross-race effect is thought to contribute to difficulties in cross-race identification, as well as implicit racial bias.

Counterfactual thinking is a concept in psychology that involves the human tendency to create possible alternatives to life events that have already occurred; something that is contrary to what actually happened. Counterfactual thinking is, as it states: "counter to the facts". These thoughts consist of the "What if?" and the "If only..." that occur when thinking of how things could have turned out differently. Counterfactual thoughts include things that – in the present – could not have happened because they are dependent on events that did not occur in the past.

Eyewitness testimony is the account a bystander or victim gives in the courtroom, describing what that person observed that occurred during the specific incident under investigation. Ideally this recollection of events is detailed; however, this is not always the case. This recollection is used as evidence to show what happened from a witness' point of view. Memory recall has been considered a credible source in the past, but has recently come under attack as forensics can now support psychologists in their claim that memories and individual perceptions can be unreliable, manipulated, and biased. As a result of this, many countries, and states within the United States, are now attempting to make changes in how eyewitness testimony is presented in court. Eyewitness testimony is a specialized focus within cognitive psychology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Negative affectivity</span> Personal tendency towards negative emotions and poor self-concept

In psychology, negative affectivity (NA), or negative affect, is a personality variable that involves the experience of negative emotions and poor self-concept. Negative affectivity subsumes a variety of negative emotions, including anger, contempt, disgust, guilt, fear, and nervousness. Low negative affectivity is characterized by frequent states of calmness and serenity, along with states of confidence, activeness, and great enthusiasm.

Eyewitness memory is a person's episodic memory for a crime or other witnessed dramatic event. Eyewitness testimony is often relied upon in the judicial system. It can also refer to an individual's memory for a face, where they are required to remember the face of their perpetrator, for example. However, the accuracy of eyewitness memories is sometimes questioned because there are many factors that can act during encoding and retrieval of the witnessed event which may adversely affect the creation and maintenance of the memory for the event. Experts have found evidence to suggest that eyewitness memory is fallible.

Steve Penrod is an American educator. He currently serves as a distinguished professor of psychology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. His education and career have led him to become an expert in the areas of psychology and law. He has contributed heavily to the field of psychology in the area of eyewitness memory, specifically the accuracy of eyewitness identification.

Roderick Cameron Lodge Lindsay is a Canadian psychologist who studies the area of psychology and law, and focuses on eyewitness memory. In 1974, he received his bachelor's degree at the University of Toronto and in 1978 he received his master's degree from the University of Alberta. Lindsay also received his Ph. D from the University of Alberta in 1982.

John C. Yuille was a Canadian psychologist whose research interests include forensic psychology, victim and witness memory, suspect memory, trauma and memory, stress and memory, child sexual abuse, interview techniques, serial crimes, and credibility assessment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gary L. Wells</span>

Gary L. Wells is an American psychologist and a scholar in eyewitness memory research. Wells is a professor at Iowa State University with a research interest in the integration of both cognitive psychology and social psychology and its interface with law. He has conducted research on lineup procedures, reliability and accuracy of eyewitness identification. Wells has received many awards and honorary degrees, and he has gained recognition for his work and contributions to psychology and criminal justice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neal Roese</span>

Neal Roese is a Canadian-American psychologist best known for his research on counterfactual thinking and regret. He holds the SC Johnson Chair in Global Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. In over 100 publications, his scholarly research examines basic cognitive processes underlying choice, with a focus on how people think about decision options, make predictions about the future, and revise understandings of the past. Roese is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.

Amy Bradfield Douglass is a social psychologist whose research focus on the intersection of psychology and law specifically concerning eyewitness testimony. Douglass is a Whitehouse Professor of Psychology at Bates College. Douglass is also a publish author of two textbooks. She is most well known for her research, and is recognized as an expert for trial consulting.

Roy S. Malpass is a social psychologist known for his research in facial recognition and eyewitness identification. He is a Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Texas at El Paso and the State University of New York at Plattsburgh.

Laura Smalarz is a psychologist researching psychology as it is related to the law. Smalarz focuses her work on forensic evidence, eyewitness identification, and the wrongfully convicted. She is an Associate Professor of psychology and director of the psychology and law lab at Arizona State University.

Ronald P. Fisher is a psychological researcher who is best known for his work on developing the cognitive interview technique. Fisher is also widely known for his research on the theoretical and applied aspects of memory and his research on lie detection. He is a professor of psychology at Florida International University, which is located in Miami, Florida.

Miko Wilford is a tenured associate professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts and a tenured associate professor of psychology at Iowa State University with research focused on eyewitness identification, learning and memory, and legal decision-making. She is a P.I. of the Psycho-Legal Experiments and Applications and developed a computer simulation software to study plea decision-making Outside of academia, she is a trial consultant for cases concerning eyewitness misidentification and false guilty pleas

Jeff Kukucka is a legal psychologist specializing in wrongful convictions. As of October 2024, he is an associate professor at Towson University.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Charman, Stephen". discovery.fiu.edu. Retrieved 2024-10-01.
  2. 1 2 Communications, Florida International University-Digital. "Stephen Charman". case.fiu.edu. Retrieved 2024-09-30.
  3. ↑ Charman, S. D. (2006). Using counterfactuals to assess eyewitnesses' abilities to estimate the effects of external influences on their lineup identifications (Order No. 3229058). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (305314942). https://marymountuniv.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/using-counterfactuals-assess-eyewitnesses/docview/305314942/se-2
  4. ↑ Charman, S. D., & Wells, G. L. (2007). Eyewitness Lineups: Is the Appearance-Change Instruction a Good Idea? Law and Human Behavior, 31(1), 3–22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10979-006-9006-3
  5. 1 2 Charman, S., & Wells, G. (2014). Applied lineup theory. In Handbook Of Eyewitness Psychology 2 Volume Set (pp. 219–254). Routledge.
  6. ↑ Charman, S. D., & Wells, G. L. (2008). Can Eyewitnesses Correct for External Influences on Their Lineup Identifications? The Actual/Counterfactual Assessment Paradigm. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Applied, 14(1), 5–20. https://doi.org/10.1037/1076-898X.14.1.5
  7. 1 2 "Steve Charman". ResearchGate. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
  8. ↑ "Steve Charman". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2024-10-01.
  9. ↑ "Psychology-Law Collquium Series hosts Dr. Stephen Charman". psychology.iastate.edu. Retrieved 2024-10-01.
  10. ↑ Douglass, A. B., Charman, S. D., Matuku, K. P., Shambaugh, L. J., Lapar, M. P., & Lamere, E. (2024). Case Information Biases Evaluations of Video-Recorded Eyewitness Identification Evidence. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 13(2), 292–305. https://doi.org/10.1037/mac0000126
  11. ↑ Charman, Steve D, Carlucci, Marianna, Vallano, Jon et al. (2010). The Selective Cue Integration Framework: A Theory of Postidentification Witness Confidence Assessment . JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY-APPLIED, 16(2), 204-218. 10.1037/a0019495
  12. ↑ "Eyewitnesses' memory for lineup fillers: Testing the robustness of a novel postdictor of a witness's identification accuracy | Florida ExpertNet". expertnet.org. Retrieved 2024-10-18.
  13. ↑ "Alibi Generation: Improving innocents suspects accuracy and examining alibi discriminability using a novel GPS paradigm | Florida ExpertNet". expertnet.org. Retrieved 2024-10-18.
  14. ↑ "Testing a 'not sure' instruction to reduce the harmful impact of estimator variables on lineup identification | Florida ExpertNet". expertnet.org. Retrieved 2024-10-18.
  15. ↑ "Video-recording Eyewitness Identification Lineups: Testing for Unanticipated Costs and Undiscovered Benefits | Florida ExpertNet". expertnet.org. Retrieved 2024-10-18.
  16. ↑ "Confirmation bias among interpreters in an interrogative setting | Florida ExpertNet". expertnet.org. Retrieved 2024-10-18.
  17. ↑ "ORCID". orcid.org. Retrieved 2024-10-01.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.