4. Eyewitness Testimony

Question 1

What is Eyewitness testimony

Answer 1

The ability of ppl to remember the details of events.
The evidence provided by ppl who witnessed a particular event or crime.
It relies on recall from memory.

EWT includes, for eg, descriptions of criminals (eg. hair colour, height) & crime scenes (eg. time, date, location)

Question 2

How accurate can Eyewitness testimony be

Answer 2

• Witnesses are often inaccurate in their recollection of events & the ppl involved. This has important implications when it comes to police interviews.
• Therefore, EWT can be inaccurate & *distorted**

Many cognitive psychologists focus on working out what factors affect the accuracy of EWT, & how accuracy can be improved in interviews.

Question 3

What did Loftus & Palmer (1974) do

Answer 3

How misleading information can be affected by EWT.
Investigated how EWT can be distorted. They used leading questions, where a certain answer is implied in the question.

Eg. the question “How much will prices go up next year?” is leading, bc it implies that prices will go up.
A better question would be, “What do you think will happen to prices next year?”

Question 4

Method & Results of Loftus & Palmer (1974)

Answer 4

Experiment 1:
METHOD: Participant were shown a film of a multiple car crash. They were then asked a series of questions including, “How fast do you think the cars were going when they hit?”. In diff conditions, the word ‘hit’ was replaced with ‘smashed’, ‘collided’, ‘bumped’, or ‘contacted’.

RESULTS: Participants given the word ‘smashed’ estimated the highest speed (an avg of 41mph); those given the word ‘contacted’ gave the lowest estimate (an avg of 32mph).

Experiment 2:
METHOD: The participants were split into 3 groups. One group was given the verb ‘smashed’, another ‘hit’, & the third, control group wasn’t given any indication of the vehicle’s speed. A week later, the participants were asked, ‘Did you see any broken glass?’

RESULTS: Although there was no broken glass in the film, participants were more likely to say that they’d seen broken glass in the ‘smashed’ condition than any other.

Question 5

Conclusion of Loftus & Palmer (1974)

Answer 5

Leading questions can affect the accuracy of ppl’s memories of an event.

Ex1: The response-bias explanation - suggests the wording of the question has no real effect on the participants’ memories but it influences how they decide to answer.

Ex2: Substitution explanation - wording of the leading question actually changes the participant’s memory of the film chip.

Question 6

Evaluation of Loftus & Palmer (1974): PROS

Answer 6

• This has implications for questions in police interviews.
• However, this was an artificial experiment - watching a video is not as emotionally arousing as a real-life event, which potentially affects recall.
• In fact, a later study found that participants who thought they’d witnessed a real robbery could give an accurate description of the robber.

Question 7

Evaluation of Loftus & Palmer (1974): CONS

Answer 7

• The experimental design might lead to demand characteristics, where the results are skewed bc of the participants’ expectations abt the purposes of the experiment.

For eg, the leading questions might have given participants clues abt the nature of the experiment (eg. they could have realised the experiment was abt susceptibility to leading questions), & so participants might have acted accordingly.
This would’ve reduced the validity & reliability of the experiment.

Question 8

What did Loftus & Zanni (1975) do

Answer 8

Also looked at leading questions.
Investigated how altering the wording of a question can produce a leading question that can distort EWT.

Question 9

Method of Loftus & Zanni (1975)

Answer 9

Participants were shown a film of a car crash. They were then asked either ‘Did you see the broken headlight?’ or ‘Did you see a broken headlight?’.
There was no broken headlight shown in the film.

Question 10

Results of Loftus & Zanni (1975)

Answer 10

17% of those asked abt ‘the’ broken headlight claimed they saw one,
compared to 7% in the group asked abt ‘a’ broken headlight.

Question 11

Conclusion of Loftus & Zanni (1975)

Answer 11

The simple use of the word ‘the’ is enough to affect the accuracy of ppl’s memories of an event.

Question 12

Evaluations of Loftus & Zanni (1975): PROS

Answer 12

• Like the study by Loftus & Palmer (1974), this study has implications for EWT.
• This study was a laboratory study, which made it possible to control any extraneous variables. This means its possible to establish cause & effect

Question 13

Evaluations of Loftus & Zanni (1975): CONS

Answer 13

• The study was artificial (participants were shown a film of a car crash, not an actual car crash), so the study lacked ecological validity.

Question 14

What can affect the accuracy of recall

Answer 14

Post-event discussion can affect the accuracy of recall

Question 15

What is post-event discussion (PED)

Answer 15

Occurs when there is more than 1 witness to an event.
Witnesses may discuss what they have seen w other co-witnesses.
This affects accuracy

Question 16

Post-event discussion: misleading post-event information

Answer 16

Studies where a confederate has been used to feed other participants w misleading post-event information have shown that this can affect recall. For eg:

Shaw et al (1997) paired participants w a confederate. The pairs were shown videos of a staged robbery & were interviewed tg afterwards. The participant & the confederate alternated who answered the questions first.
- When the participant answered first, recall was accurate 58% of the time.
- When the confederate answered first & gave accurate answers, the recall of the participant was 67%.
If the confederate gave inaccurate answers, correct recall for the participants fell by 42%.

Question 17

Post-event discussion: if misleading information is received through conversation

Answer 17

If the misleading info is received through a conversation, the effects can be just as big, if not bigger. For eg:

Gabbert et al’s (2004) study involved 2 groups of participants - young adults (17-33yrs) & older adults (58-80yrs). Both groups watched a staged crime & were then exposed to misleading info in 1 of 2 ways.
- Through conversation w a confederate
- Or reading a written report of the crime, supposedly by another participant
The participants were then given a recall test abt the events they’d witnessed. It was found that both groups of adults were more likely to report inaccurate info after a conversation w a confederate than after reading a report.

Question 18

What can affect the accuracy of EWT

Answer 18

• Misleading information
• Age
• Anxiety

Question 19

How can age of the witness affect the accuracy of EWT

Answer 19

Studies have shown that the age of the witness is a factor in whether they’re affected by leading questions

Question 20

What did Valentine & Coxon (1997) do

Answer 20

Investigated the affect of age on EWT

Question 21

Method of Valentine & Coxon (1997)

Answer 21

• 3 groups of participants (children, young adults & elderly ppl) watched a video of kidnapping.
• They were then asked a series of leading & non-leading questions about what they had seen.

Question 22

Results of Valentine & Coxon (1997)

Answer 22

• Both the elderly ppl & the children gave more incorrect answers to non-leading questions.
• Children were misled more by leading questions than adults or the elderly

Question 23

Conclusion of Valentine & Coxon (1997)

Answer 23

Age has an effect on the accuracy of EWT

Question 24

Evaluation of Valentine & Coxon (1997): PROS

Answer 24

• This has implications in law when children or elderly ppl are questioned

Question 25

Evaluation of Valentine & Coxon (1997): CONS

Answer 25

- Experiment was **artificial** & so wasn't as emotionally arousing as the same situation would have been irl - lacks **ecological validity** - Results may only show how well ppl remember things from TV, rather than showing the accuracy of memories of real-life situations.

Question 26

How can anxiety affect the accuracy of EWT

Answer 26

- **Anxiety** can affect **focus**. - Psychologists tend to believe that **small increases** in anxiety & arousal may **increase the accuracy** of memory, but **high levels** have a **negative effect** on accuracy. - In **violent crimes** (where anxiety & arousal are likely to be high), the witness may focus on **central details** (eg. a weapon) & neglect other **peripheral details** (eg. what criminal was wearing) see graph curve on pg24

Question 27

What did Loftus (1979) do

Answer 27

Investigated weapon focus in EWT in the expense of other peripheral details

Question 28

Method of Loftus (1979)

Answer 28

- In a study w an **independent groups** design, participants heard a discussion in a nearby room. - In condition 1, a man came out of the room w a pen & grease on his hand. - In condition 2, the man came out carrying a knife covered in blood. - Participants were asked to identify the man from 50 photographs.

Question 29

Results of Loftus (1979)

Answer 29

- Participants in condition 1 were 49% accurate. - Only 33% of the participants in condition 2 were correct.

Question 30

Conclusion of Loftus (1979)

Answer 30

When anxious & aroused, witnesses focus on a weapon at the expense of other details

Question 31

Evaluation of Loftus (1979): PROS

Answer 31

- Study has **high ecological validity**, as participants weren't aware that the study was staged.

Question 32

Evaluation of Loftus (1979): CONS

Answer 32

- HOWEVER, high ecological validity also means there are **ethical considerations**, as participants could have been very distressed at the sight of the man w the knife.

Question 33

HOWEVER, **misleading questions** & **anxiety** don't ALWAYS affect EWT

Answer 33

- A **field study** by **Yuille & Cutshall (1986)** showed that witnesses of a **real** incident (a gun shooting) had **remarkably accurate memories** of the event. - A thief was shot & killed by police & witnesses were interviewed.

Question 34

Why do we remember trauma more than other memories

Answer 34

The amygdala: - Responsible for encoding & storing associations - Releases cortisol - stress hormone - causes vivid & memorable memories - Arc proteins in neurons strengthens the synapses - so they are aroused more & fires more repeatedly

Question 35

Christianson & Hubiette (1993)

Answer 35

Questioned 110 real victims of a bank robbery. They found that those who had actually been threatened were more accurate in their recall., compared to those who were onlookers. This continued to be true 15 months later. High anxiety is associated with high recall.

Question 36

Yerkes-Dodson Law (1908)

Answer 36

see phone images

Question 37

What is the cognitive interview

Answer 37

A method of interviewing eyewitnesses to help them retrieve more accurate memories. It was developed to increase accuracy

Question 38

Who developed the cognitive interview technique (CIT)

Answer 38

Geiselman et al (1984) - to try to increase the accuracy of witness' recall of events during police questioning

Question 39

Full overview of cognitive interviews

Answer 39

1. The interviewer tries to make the witness **relaxed** & tailors their **language** to suit the witness.. 2. The witness mentally recreates the **environmental context** (eg. sights, sounds) & **internal context** (eg. mood) of the crime scene. 3. The witness reports **absolutely everything** that they can remember abt the crime, even if it feels irrelevant. 4. The witness is asked to recall details of the crime in **different orders**. 5. The witness is asked to recall the event from various **different perspectives**, eg. from eyes of other witnesses. 6. The interviewer avoids any **judgemental** & **personal comments**.

Question 40

Main components of cognitive interview

Answer 40

1. Report Everything (RE) 2. Context Reinstatement (CR) 3. Recall from changed perspective (CP) 4. Recall in reverse order (RO)

Question 41

Cognitive interviews: 1. Report Everything (RE)

Answer 41

- The interviewer encourages the witness to report **every** detail they can recall abt the event, even if it seems trivial/unimportant - may highlight something that has been **overlooked**.

Question 42

Cognitive interviews: 2. Context Reinstatement (CR)

Answer 42

- Witness asked to **mentally reinstate** the context of the event. - Trying to mentally recreate an image of the situation, including details of the environment, the individual's emotional state inducing their feelings at the time of the incident - may all act as cues/triggers to recall.

Question 43

Cognitive interviews: 3. Recall from changed perspective (CP)

Answer 43

- Trying to mentally recreate the situation from different POVs (for eg, describing what another witness present at the scene would have seen) - promotes more 'holistic' view of the event which may enhance recall. - This disrupts the witness' schema.

Question 44

Cognitive interview: 4. Recall in reverse order (RO)

Answer 44

- Witness asked to report the episode in several different temporal orders moving backwards & forwards in time. - Witness is asked to describe the scene in a different chronological order (eg. from the end to the beginning) - to verify accuracy

Question 45

Research to support the cognitive interview

Answer 45

Research has shown that ppl interviewed w the cognitive interview technique are much more accurate in recall of events: Geiselman et al (1986)

Question 46

What did Geiselman et al (1986) do

Answer 46

Investigated the effect of the cognitive interview

Question 47

Method of Geiselman et al (1986)

Answer 47

- In a staged situation, an intruder carrying a **blue** rucksack entered a classroom & stole a slide projector. - 2 days later, P's were questioned abt the event. The study used an **independent groups** design - P's were either questioned using a **standard interview procedure** or the **cognitive interview technique**. - Early in the questionings, P's were asked 'Was the guy w the **green** backpack nervous?'. - Later in the interview, P's were asked what colour the man's rucksack was.

Question 48

Results of Geiselman et al (1986)

Answer 48

P's in the **cognitive interview condition** were less likely to recall the rucksack as being green than those in the **standard interview condition**

Question 49

Conclusion of Geiselman et al (1986)

Answer 49

The cognitive interview technique **reduces the effect of leading questions**

Question 50

Evaluation of Geiselman et al (1986): PROS

Answer 50

- The experiment was conducted as though a real crime had taken place in the classroom - it had **high ecological validity**.

Question 51

Evaluation of Geiselman et al (1986): CONS

Answer 51

- Used an independent group design - Disadvantage of this is that the P's in the cognitive interview condition could have been naturally less susceptible to leading questions than the other group (due to individual differences).

Question 52

Benefit of CIT on economy

Answer 52

The CIT has been shown to increase the accuracy of EWT. This means the police can work more efficiently, so public money is better spent, which in turn is beneficial for the economy.