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I Chose to evaluate the critical thinking behind Police lineups

Define the Problem: Should police lineups be used to catch perpetrators?

Gather information: This video was created by the BBC network to investigate wrongful incarcerations due to police lines ups. The video uses the testaments of two men. Both men were wrongfully convicted because of police lineups.

Evaluate Evidence: The first police line up mentioned was Uriah’s. The witness didn’t get a clear look at her attacker and, He was identified by the witness along with two other possible suspects. The second line up was Rafael’s. The witness Identified him through several photos of suspects, however the photo that was used was several years old.

Recognize assumptions: There are multiple biases that can be identified in this video. There is an emotional bias from both the victim and the Police officer because their experiences and connection to the crime. Racial profiling is also an issue in lineups. Another problem is the evidence compiled it’s not always accurate and can be misleading if it’s not evaluated properly.

Synthesize evidence, Identify alternatives:

·        The first alternative is conduct police lines and be careful is the evidence collected.

·        The Second alternative not conduct police lines up use alternative methods to conduct investigations

Select the best alternatives:

The Second alternative not conduct police lines up use alternative methods to conduct investigations

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Definition: The Reason for Belief, Ideology means to assign bias to an event or decision based on One's individual beliefs.

Connection: Ideology often produces an ethical dilemma in the medical field. This clip was taken from the popular show Grey’s Anatomy. As shown in this clip a young man needs a blood transfusion, and doctors ask his family for consent. The patient’s family declines, because of their religious beliefs that if it is God’s will he will live. The boy loses his life when he could have been saved.  Unfortunately, many cases like this happen all the time. People tragically lose their lives because of the use of emotional and religious biases. What this boy’s family should have done is put aside their own beliefs and thought of what was in the best interest of their loved one.

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Post #8 Reason for Belief: Perception and Observation

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Post #8 Reason for Belief: Perception and Observation

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Definition: Perception and Observation is when as a point of view, emotional state and memory, affect a person’s ability to judge an event.

Connection: Police lineups use Perception and Observation in its practice. They are where a group of possible suspects in a crime are grouped together and a witness identifies the Perpetrator out them. As mentioned in this video there are many issues with this method. Witness accounts are not always correct because they do not always have the have the memory or knowledge of what they witnessed. In the Video, Uriah was wrongfully identified with two other possible suspects. The victim, in this crime, did not get a good look at her attacker. It is also likely that the victim had an emotional bias; she had been attacked and violated, watching a room full of possible suspects could be emotional trigger. Perception and Observation need to be fully evaluated when doing a police line up. Everyone working on the case has a different idea of what happened and therefore, has a bias that unknowingly reflects their decision making. Critical thinking needs to be applied and all the evidence needs to be evaluated.

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How US police line-ups jail the innocent - BBC News

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Post #7 Reason for Belief: Patternicity 

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Post #7 Reason for Belief: Patternicity 

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Definition: The Reason for Belief Patternicity is the ability to see Pattern were there aren’t any.

Connection: The “Nun-Bun” is an example of Patternicity, this webpage talks about its discovery in a Tennessee bakery in 1996. The Nun Bun became a viral sensation because of its resemblance to Mother Teresa. Some people believe that the nun bun is Holy however, Believers must think logically. To Properly understand something one must look for facts and evidence, and ask questions to gain knowledge. After learning more about the Nun-bun people will realize it’s just a coincidence. Humans are pattern-seeking animals and we place faces on objects unknowingly.

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Twenty two years ago on Christmas Day, Bongo Java became the most famous coffeehouse in the world due to a cinnamon bun that many believe looks remarkably like Mother Teresa. You can read one of the nearly 10,000 entries when you google NunBun.

Using the Andy Warhol measure that everyone is famous for 15 minutes, the NunBun actually got 45 minutes of fame: 15 minutes for the discovery; 15 minutes because Mother Teresa personally wrote us a letter asking us to stop using the image to sell merchandise; and 15 minutes when the NunBun was stolen - again on Christmas day.

The story itself could be a case study for how the internet changed everything. In 1996 the internet was in its infancy. Thus, news of the NunBun became viral in a whole different way. An article in the Saturday Tennessean was picked up on Monday by USA Today which in turn started a wave of morning and afternoon disc jockeys from across the country to call to get word of the NunBun. The article and those often silly interviews eventually led to stories on media outlets like national TV stations, NPR and (so we've been told) a Calcutta newspaper.

Eventually the NunBun made it into the social fabric. Paul Schaffer on The David Letterman show did a song & dance routine about America being great because we could find celebrities in food items.
See Video Here
Because the story broke during the holiday season, many of our regular customers found out about the story reading newspapers wherever they were. We had customers in Europe, Asia and all over the USA bring us copies of papers that talked about the NunBun.

One regular customer walked in and said we needed a website. It's hard to remember but back in 1996 websites weren't so prevalent. In fact, our company didn't have a website. The site was created quickly along with a morph that slowly changed from a photo of Mother Teresa into the NunBun. In just 30 days this site had more than one million hits. Again, back then that was a big deal. The Nashville Scene gave us "Best Local Website" for that achievement.

Somewhere during that first crazy week someone called and said they were Mother Teresa's attorney. We eventually talked, debated on CNNs "Burden of Proof" and negotiated a deal where we wouldn't sell something like $100,000 of NunBun merchandise in a single year (not sure if we've hit $10,000 in 20 years). This is when we also agreed to call this the NunBun rather than the Immaculate Confection - which was Mother Teresa's preference.

The NunBun wasn't but very well could have been used to prove Mother Teresa was a saint - at least according to her attorney's legal argument. He said we couldn't use the image of the bun because it was her image (which has legal protection). We had to hire our own attorney to explain that if the cinnamon bun indeed had her image on it than it truly was a miracle.

Mother Teresa actually enjoyed the NunBun. As reported by her attorney, she joked about it weeks before she died. The attorney, the eventual Saint and her replacement were discussing issues that needed to be solved before Mother Teresa died. The outline of our NunBun settlement came up. She looked at her replacement and said "Tell those people in Tennessee to find a bun that looks like her!"

The last weird part of the NunBun story happened 11 years after it was discovered. Again on Christmas Eve, the NunBun was stolen. Someone took the hinges off Bongo Java's front door and stole the bun. Again, this kicked off a firestorm of publicity capping off in a live intereview with Keith Olberman. "Did you ever think it divinely was lifted into the heavens?" the talk show asked. "Well, if it did, then there likely would have been a hole in our roof instead of a front door off its hinges," Bongo Java owner Bob Bernstein replied.

The $5,000 No Questions Asked reward for the return of the NunBun still exists.

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Twenty two years ago on Christmas Day, Bongo Java became the most famous coffeehouse in the world due to a cinnamon bun that many believe looks remarkably like Mother Teresa. You can read one of the nearly 10,000 entries when you google NunBun. Using the Andy Warhol measure that everyone is famous for 15 ...

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Post #6 Red Flag: Confusion of Causation with correlation

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Post #6 Red Flag: Confusion of Causation with correlation

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Definition: Confusion of Causation with correlation is to Compare two unrelating events and based on Coincidence, making a person believe that one event has caused the other.

Connection: An example of confusing causation with correlation is the christening a ship. This Practice was commonly done to wish the ship, and its crew good luck on their first voyage. This website below interestingly states that the bottle which christened the Titanic didn’t break! Some people believe that because the bottle didn’t break the ship was cursed, and that is why it really sank. This theory has been debunked as it is proven by many researchers, and eyewitnesses that the Titanic crashed. There was no evidence found proving that it was cursed. The matter that the bottle didn’t break is just a coincidence.

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Definition: Confirmation Bias means to only acknowledge all the evidence that prove one's beliefs but ignore the evidence that disproves it.

Connection: A common example of confirmation bias is psychic readings. As shown in this video, physics will use many tricks to make people believe what they're telling them. One of the most common ones is “cold readings.” Physics will ask very basic questions however, the client must put together the information on their own. Physics will take a “shot in the dark”, asking these questions and may only get a few questions right when guessing. Their Clients don’t notice it because they are so in awe over their accurate guesses. People who attend psychics need to evaluate all the evidence being presented to them. In conducting this practice, they will conclude that physic readings are based on coincidence and not fact.

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Definition:  Ancient Wisdom is the belief that ancient techniques are what work best. People who believe this method only care about the results and don’t care about the practices or lack of scientific evidence to prove that it will work.

Connection: This video below shows a form of ancient wisdom still practiced today, human sacrifice. Though vastly proclaimed illegal, countries in western Africa still practice the human sacrifice of albinos. Innocent people are kidnapped and murdered as their bodies are sold to create potions for good fortune. There are many flaws with this idea as there is no proof these potions work. The question that needs to be asked here is, “why does this practice work?” Based on this question one can see the scientific method is not applied to this practice.

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Albino body organs sold for witchcraft | Al Jazeera English

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Post #3 Red Flag: Suppression by authority

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Post #3 Red Flag: Suppression by authority

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Definition: Suppression by authority is the idea that the government or people of higher authority are withholding important information from you for their benefit. Conspiracy theorists will often use this excuse as the reason why their “evidence” is not seen as credible by people of higher authority: “the government doesn’t want the truth to be revealed”.

Connection: A good example of Suppression by authority is the infamous Area 51,  it’s a military base located in Nevada. As shown in the picture below many people believe that the government hides proof of extraterrestrial existence within the base. Believers of this theory fail to apply critical thinking and acknowledge the other evidence. That would suggest why the government is hiding “classified” information on a “classified military base”.

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Definition: Appeal to authority is when a person of credibility or influence, such as a celebrity or doctor, attempt to promote a product or idea. This red flag is commonly used as a marketing technique and can be found in advertising.

Connection: This commercial represents “Appeal to Authority” because they use Robin Williams to sell the game legends of Zelda. In the commercial, it is shown that Robin Williams is a fan of the game. The fans watching this commercial then think that if Robin Willams likes it they will too. The problem with this claim is the lack of critical thinking. Viewers need to ask themselves, “what makes this a good game to play? Are there other sources that say otherwise?”  There is no evidence provided in this commercial that proves this claim. Truthfully, everyone has different preferences for what they enjoy. There is no evidence that says everyone who plays the legends of Zelda will enjoy the game.

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Ocarina of Time 3D - Robin Williams Commercial

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Created and written by Emily MacPhee
Working Independently on this assignment