ABSTRACT
Famed social psychologist Kurt Lewin (1952, p. 169) once commented, “There is nothing so practical as a good theory.” Most psychologists who do applied work understand well the interplay between application and basic psychological theory. Not only does basic research in human cognition and social processes inform our understanding of the performance of the eyewitness in choosing (or not choosing) someone from a lineup, but the reverse is also true. The applied questions that eyewitness researchers pose oftentimes provide new theoretical insights. A colleague in graduate school once said to one of us (JL), “In applied research you get your theoretical insights for free.” That’s part of what makes research on the topic of eyewitness identification so exciting and rewarding.
