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Gary L. Wells is an American psychologist and an internationally recognized pioneer and scholar in eyewitness memory research. Wells is a professor at
Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...
with a research interest in the integration of both cognitive psychology and social psychology and its interface with law. He has extensive research on lineup procedures and the reliability and accuracy of
eyewitness identification In eyewitness identification, in criminal law, evidence is received from a witness "who has actually seen an event and can so testify in court". The Innocence Project states that "Eyewitness misidentification is the single greatest cause of wron ...
, and has been widely acknowledged in both the field of psychology and the criminal justice system. Wells has received many awards and honorary degrees and been widely recognized for his work and contributions to psychology and the implications his research has made to the legal system.


Media appearances

Wells has been cited in many periodicals across the country with his research on
eyewitness memory Eyewitness memory is a person's episodic memory for a crime or other dramatic event that he or she has witnessed. Eyewitness testimony is often relied upon in the judicial system. It can also refer to an individual's memory for a face, where they a ...
. Some of the most notable periodicals include: *''Time'' magazine, which discusses the unreliability of eyewitness testimony. *''The New York Times'', which describes alternative methods that can be used to help reduce false identifications from eyewitnesses. *''The Los Angeles Times'', which presents some of his research findings on false identifications and eyewitness testimony. *''The Chicago Tribune'', which describes problems with eyewitness identification. *''New Yorker'' magazine, in which Wells work and career are discussed. Wells has also appeared on many major television shows discussing his research findings and presenting new ideas and alternatives to help reduce the number of false convictions that occur because of the unreliability of eyewitnesses. Some of his most notable appearances include: *CBS's '' 48 Hours'', where he discussed the stress and accuracy of eyewitness memory *NBC's '' Nightly News'' and ''
Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It w ...
'' *Court TV *''
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''


Education

*B.Sc. Honors (1973) Psychology,
Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...
*Ph.D. (1977) Experimental Social Psychology,
Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...


Career

Wells began his career at the
University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...
(Canada) and rose to the rank of full professor. In 1989 he became department chair at Iowa State University. Currently, Wells is a distinguished professor of psychology at
Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...
and th
Stavish Chair in the Social Sciences
He is a Fellow of the
American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...
, the
Association for Psychological Science The Association for Psychological Science (APS), previously the American Psychological Society, is an international non-profit organization whose mission is to promote, protect, and advance the interests of scientifically oriented psychology in ...
, and the
Society of Experimental Social Psychology The Society of Experimental Social Psychology (SESP) is a scientific organization of social scientists founded in 1965 with the goal of advancing and communicating theories in social psychology. Its first chairperson was Edwin P. Hollander.Hollande ...
. Wells is a past President of the
American Psychology-Law Society American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
. He serves as a consultant and speaker to judges, law enforcement, defense counsel, and prosecution counsel regarding issues in eyewitness memory, crime investigation procedures, and evidence evaluation. Wells has also published work in areas such as attitudes and persuasion, attribution, and judgment and decision making, but his work on eyewitness evidence has had an outsized impact in psychological science and the legal system.


Notable research


Lineup presentations

Using staged-crime experiments for unsuspecting people, Wells' experiments have shaped a scientific understanding of problems with the reliability of eyewitness identification evidence and the role that poor lineup procedures play in contributing to mistaken eyewitness identification and false confidence on the part of eyewitnesses. Wells introduced the idea o
double-blind lineups
(Wells, 1990) in, which are lineups conducted by someone who does not know which person in the lineup is the possible suspect and which are merely fillers. The idea of the double-blind lineup is to prevent inadvertent influence on the eyewitness from the lineup administrator. Double-blind lineup procedures are now required in many states and individual jurisdictions across the United States. In 2014,
report
from a study committee the
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
endorsed the idea that all lineups should be conducted using double-blind procedures. Wells also introduced a measure of lineup fairness calle
functional lineup size
(Wells et al., 1979) to distinguish between the number of people in a lineup (nominal lineup size) and the ability of the fillers (innocent stand-ins) to make the lineup fair to the suspect. In the 1990s, Wells and his Ph.D. student Amy Bradfield (Douglass) discovered that the confidence that eyewitnesses express in their identifications is highly malleable and can be dramatically inflated after making a mistaken identification through simple comments that seem to confirm their choice, a phenomenon known as th
post-identification feedback effect


System and estimator variables

In an influential article in 1978, Wells proposed a distinction between two different types of variables influencing the accuracy of eyewitness identification
Wells, 1978
. System-variables are variables that are (or could be) under the control of the justice system (e.g., pre-lineup instructions to witnesses). Estimator-variables are variables that are not under the control of the justice system, but are circumstantial factors that influence identification (e.g. age, race). Wells proposed that system-variable research would prove to have greater applied utility for criminal justice than estimator-variable research because system-variable research could inform the legal system of ways to reduce the chances of mistaken identification. Wells argued that the rate of misidentifications are influenced by several methodological biases in the methods used by law enforcement to secure the identifications The system-variable versus estimator-variable distinction that Wells introduced in 1978 has so thoroughly permeated the nomenclature of the eyewitness literature that the terms are now commonly used without attribution to their source.


Bayesian statistics

Wells introduced the idea of using
Bayesian statistics Bayesian statistics is a theory in the field of statistics based on the Bayesian interpretation of probability where probability expresses a ''degree of belief'' in an event. The degree of belief may be based on prior knowledge about the event, ...
to describe eyewitness performance in eyewitness identification experiments
Wells, 2015
. Wells has further developed these Bayesian methods to show how the amount of information (about guilt) gained from eyewitness identification evidence can be quite small and is highly dependent on other (non-witness) evidence.


Laboratory and field research

Wells, along with Steven D. Penrod, also wrote a chapter on "Eyewitness identification research: Strengths and weaknesses of alternative methods" for Research Methods in Forensic Psychology. In this chapter, Wells and Penrod evaluate alternative research methods for eyewitness testimony, including laboratory and field experiments
Wells & Penrod, 2011
. Wells and his colleagues collected field experiment data from four police departments and published the data showing that roughly 1/3rd of all identifications made by eyewitnesses resulted in the selection of an innocent stand-in lineup member
Wells, Steblay, & Dysart, 2015
.


Real world implications

Wells' 35+ years of research on eyewitness misidentification and work performed with law enforcement and prosecutors has made substantial contributions to court and legal procedures. His involvement with the
Innocence Project Innocence Project, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal organization that is committed to exonerating individuals who have been wrongly convicted, through the use of DNA testing and working to reform the criminal justice system to prevent futur ...
and appearances he has made with Jennifer Thompso

have helped to inform the legal system about why 75% of all DNA exonerations of innocent people who were convicted by juries in the United States are cases involving mistaken eyewitness identification testimony.


Proper procedures for constructing and eyewitness identification procedures

Wells worked with many states, starting with New Jersey in 2002 and North Carolina in 2003, to implement state-wide reform of their eyewitness identification procedures. Other states later followed in making reforms to eyewitness identification procedures based on the early models that Wells developed. Most states now require double-blind administration of lineups, pre-lineup instructions to witnesses warning that the culprit might not be in the lineup, the use of lineup fillers so that the suspect does not stand out, and the collection of a confidence statement from the eyewitness at the time of any identification. These same reforms have now been adopted by the
International Association of Chiefs of Police International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) is a nonprofit organization based in Alexandria, Virginia (United States). It is the world's largest professional association for police The police are a Law enforcement organization, c ...
.


Court procedures for evaluating eyewitness evidence

Wells was the first to call into question the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling i
Neil versus Biggers
(1973) and its later reaffirmation i

(1977) about how to assess the reliability of eyewitness identification when there is suggestiveness involved in the identification. Wells' later writings have made an even stronger case for how the Court's approach is flawed given the findings in eyewitness science
Wells & Quinlivan, 2009
. Recent state supreme court rulings have used Wells' critique of Manson vs. Braithwaite to fashion new approaches to assessing the reliability of eyewitness identification evidence (e.g.

in New Jersey an
State v. Lawson
in Oregon). In agreement with the basic arguments in the Wells & Quinlivan article, th
report
from the study committee of the National Academy of Sciences endorsed the idea of casting out the Manson v. Braithwaite approach to evaluating the reliability of eyewitness identifications. Wells' testimony in court cases and eyewitness research on system and estimator variables has influenced legislation and state Supreme Court decisions. States such as New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Vermont, Illinois, and Connecticut, for example, now require double-blind lineups and other safeguards for eyewitness identification evidence that Wells advocated. Wells' work with the U.S. Department of Justice under Attorney General
Janet Reno Janet Wood Reno (July 21, 1938 – November 7, 2016) was an American lawyer who served as the 78th United States attorney general. She held the position from 1993 to 2001, making her the second-longest serving attorney general, behind only Wi ...
resulted in the first set of national recommendations for law enforcement regarding the collection and preservation of eyewitness evidence
Eyewitness Evidence: A Guide for Law Enforcement
. In 2003, the United States Court of Appeals 7th Circuit upheld Wells' testimony in a Chicago civil suit pertaining to lineup procedures in which the defendant was pardoned innocence after the allegation that the police officer induced the three witnesses to identify him as the perpetrator
Newsome vs. McCabe
2003). For his testimony, Wells conducted an experiment to examine the likelihood that all three of the witnesses would pick the defendant out of a lineup. The results suggested that the police officers manipulated the lineup due to the probability of picking the defendant being less than one in 1000. Reforms for legal standards in eyewitness identifications have been also noted in other cases such as State v. Larry R. Henderson and questions of constitutionality for eyewitness identifications have been raised ( Perry v. New Hampshire).


Honors, awards, and memberships

*Distinguished Professor at
Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...
*Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences *James Mckeen Cattell Award for the
Association for Psychological Science The Association for Psychological Science (APS), previously the American Psychological Society, is an international non-profit organization whose mission is to promote, protect, and advance the interests of scientifically oriented psychology in ...
s *On August 18, 2010, was awarded the first ever Stavish Chair in the Social Sciences at Iowa State University. *Distinguished Alumni Award, Department of Psychology,
Kansas State university Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...
*Distinguished Alumni Award, Department of Psychology,
Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
*Distinguished Contribution awards from the
American Psychology-Law Society American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
. *Presidential Citation Award from the
American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...
.
Honorary doctorate from John Jay College of Criminal Justice
*American Psychological Association (Member and Fellow) *
Association for Psychological Science The Association for Psychological Science (APS), previously the American Psychological Society, is an international non-profit organization whose mission is to promote, protect, and advance the interests of scientifically oriented psychology in ...
(Member and Fellow) *Personality and Social Psychology (APA Division 8) *
Society for Personality and Social Psychology The Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) is an academic society for personality and social psychologists focused on promoting scientific research that explores how people think, behave and interact. It is the largest organization o ...
(Fellow) *American Psychology-Law Society (APA Division 41, Fellow, past President) *Society of Experimental Social Psychology (Member and Fellow) *Judgment and Decision Making Society *
Psychonomic Society The Psychonomic Society is an international scientific society of over 4,500 scientists in the field of experimental psychology. The mission of the Psychonomic Society is to foster the science of cognition through the advancement and communicati ...
* Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition *American Judicature Society *Midwestern Psychological Association (Charter Fellow)


Publications

Wells has authored over 17
articles
and chapters in books on his research dealing with eyewitness memory and eyewitness testimony. Some of the most notable journals that Wells has been published in include
Psychological Bulletin The ''Psychological Bulletin'' is a monthly peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes evaluative and integrative research reviews and interpretations of issues in psychology, including both qualitative (narrative) and/or quantitative (meta-anal ...
,
American Psychologist ''American Psychologist'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Psychological Association. The journal publishes articles of broad interest to psychologists, including empirical reports and scholarly reviews covering science ...
,
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology The ''Journal of Personality and Social Psychology'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Psychological Association that was established in 1965. It covers the fields of social and personality psychology. The edi ...
, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied,
Psychological Science ''Psychological Science'', the flagship journal of the Association for Psychological Science (APS), is a monthly, peer-reviewed, scientific journal published by SAGE Publications. Publication scope ''Psychological Science'' publishes research r ...
, Law and Human Behavior, and
Journal of Applied Psychology The ''Journal of Applied Psychology'' is a monthly, peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Psychological Association. The journal emphasizes the publication of original investigations that contribute new knowledge and understandin ...
. Wells also co-authored Eyewitness Testimony: Psychological Perspectives, with
Elizabeth Loftus Elizabeth F. Loftus (born 1944) is an American psychologist who is best known in relation to the misinformation effect, false memory and criticism of recovered memory therapies. Loftus's research includes the effects of phrasing on the percep ...
. This book was published on May 25, 1984. The book examines topics such as eyewitness memory as a function of age, the adequacy of intuition in judging eyewitness memory, and the relationship between confidence and accuracy.


References

http://public.psych.iastate.edu/glwells/Brief_Biographical_Sketch_of_Gary_L_Wells.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20111012213208/http://www.las.iastate.edu/LASnews/stavishchair.shtml http://wells.socialpsychology.org/ http://www.all-about-forensic-psychology.com/eyewitness-testimony.html http://www.psychology.iastate.edu/~glwells/mediashots.html http://www.innocenceproject.org https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/178240.pdf https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/432/98/case.html https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/409/188/ https://casetext.com/case/newsome-v-mccabe-3 http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/editorials/mandatory-police-minimums-1454539.html?cxtype=rss_editorials https://web.archive.org/web/20111009023147/http://www.atlantaprogressivenews.com/news/0291.html Wells, G. L. (1978). Applied eyewitness testimony research: System variables and estimator variables. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 1546–1557. Wells, G. L. & Bradfield, A. L. (1998). “Good, you identified the suspect:” Feedback to eyewitnesses distorts their reports of the witnessing experience. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83, 360–376. Wells, G. L., Leippe, M. R., & Ostrom, T. M. (1979). Guidelines for empirically assessing the fairness of a lineup. Law and Human Behavior, 3, 285–293. Wells, G. L., & Lindsay, R. C. L. (1980). On estimating the diagnosticity of eyewitness nonidentifications. Psychological Bulletin, 88, 776–784. Wells, G. L., & Luus, E. (1990). Police lineups as experiments: Social methodology as a framework for properly-conducted lineups. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 16, 106–117. Wells, G. L., & Quinlivan, D. S. (2009). Suggestive eyewitness identification procedures and the Supreme Court's reliability test in light of eyewitness science: 30 years later. Law and Human Behavior, 33, 1-24. Wells, G. L., Steblay, N. K., & Dysart, J. E. (2015). Double-bind photo-lineups using actual eyewitnesses: An experimental test of a sequential versus simultaneous lineup procedure. Law and Human Behavior, 39, 1–14. Wells, G. L., & Penrod, S. D. (2011). Eyewitness identification research: Strengths and weaknesses of alternative methods. In B. Rosenfeld, & S. D. Penrod (Eds.), Research methods in forensic psychology. John Wiley and Sons, Hoboken, NJ. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wells, Gary L. Year of birth missing (living people) Kansas State University alumni Ohio State University Graduate School alumni Iowa State University faculty Living people 21st-century American psychologists Memory researchers