Witnesses may point the finger at a suspect in a line-up simply because they do not like the way they look, scientists said today. Psychologists have examined what may influence people when picking out a possible perpetrator in an identification parade. And initial research suggests that people are more likely to identify line-up members they dislike and less likely to identify someone they like.

有科学家近日说道,警察办案并找目击证人“指认嫌犯”的时候,一般目击证人指认的的嫌犯都是他们看上去“不喜欢的人”。有心理学家分析,人们在指认一群“列队”的人(嫌犯)的时候,一般更倾向指向他们“不喜欢”,或者看不顺眼的那个人。

'Most people think their memories are reliable but no-one is exempt from vulnerability to bias.'Some people are more resistant than others; generally, those with better memories of an event are more resistant to biases and those with poorer memories of an event are more vulnerable. 'In a police line-up, the witness goes in thinking they have a job to do.'They assume the police have caught someone and that person is standing in the line-up.'They also assume the police have other information to back up their arrest or suspicions. They think their job is to pick the suspect.

这算“个人偏见”吗?科学家分析,这种个人喜好对判断力产生的影响有一部分是由于人们的“记忆力”影响所形成的。有一些人很依赖自己的记忆力,一般来说,记忆力好的人对事情的“偏见程度”很高,因为他们的脑子太好使了,他们无法不对事情发表自己的见解。反而,相比之下,记忆力不大好的那些人,也就是脑子没那么好使的那些人对事情的“偏见程度”没那么高。他们不喜欢对事情发表见解,这些人合作的程度比较高。在警察的要求下需要指认嫌犯,一般民众的合作程度是很高的,人们会觉得自己得到了一份工作,工作就是正确的指认嫌犯。