Accuracy of Eye Witness Testimony AO1

Question 1

Why is research into the accuracy of eye witness testimonies done?

Answer 1

• convictions of law are often based on eye witness testemonies yet 75% of cases ,proven by DNA evidence, showed false convictions due to their lack of accuracy
• therefore it’s important to understand why their is a lack of accuracy

Question 2

What affects the accurcay of eye witness testimonies?

Answer 2

1. misleading information
2. anxiety

Question 3

What causes misleading question in eye witness testimonies?

Answer 3

1. leading questions
2. post event-discussion

Question 4

What is leading questions?

Answer 4

a question that promps or encourages the answer wanted

Question 5

What evidence is their to support the effects of leading questions?

Answer 5

Loftus’ and Palmer’s experiment

Question 6

Describe Loftus’ and Palmer’s experiment.

Answer 6

• 45 American students were collected via oppotunity sampling
• they were then shown a clip of a car accident involving multiple cars
• the sample were divided into different condition where they were asked how fast the cars were going when they ———-
• the verb changed depending on which conditon the sample was put in
• the verbs that could have been said were hit, smashed, collided, bumped and contacted
• as a follow up question they were also asked if they’d seen broken glass

Question 7

What were the findings of Loftus’ and Palmer’s experiment?

Answer 7

• those who’s verb was smashed estimated they were going 41mph on average
• those who’s verb was hit estimated they were going 34 mph on average
• 32% of those who’s verb was smashed said they saw broken glass
• 14% of those who’s verb was hit said they saw broken glass
  this showed that leading questions has a clear effect on EWT and can result in either response bias or reconstuctive hypothesis

Question 8

What is response bias?

Answer 8

when leading questions suggest an appropriate response for the participants

Question 9

What is reconstructive hypothesis?

Answer 9

when leading questions alter a person’s memory of an event

Question 10

What is post event discussion?

Answer 10

a potential source of misleading information where witnesses discuss what they saw after the event

Question 11

What are the types of post-event discussion?

Answer 11

1. conformity effect
2. repeat interviewing

Question 12

What is the conformity effect?

in post event discussion

Answer 12

• co-witnesses might reach a unanimous view of what happened
• research showed that this can cause more items to be mistakenly recalled compared to if participants were asked individually

Question 13

What is repeat interviewing?

Answer 13

• comments from the interviewer could become incorporated into recollaction of events which alters their memory of events
• occurs especially when interviewing children

Question 14

How does anxiety affect EWT?

Answer 14

it can increase and decrease the accuracy of eye witness testemony

Question 15

How can anxiety have a negative affect on memory?

Answer 15

anxiety creates physiological arousal which prevents paying attention to cues. this makes recall worse

Question 16

What evidence is there to support the negative affect of anxiety on EWT?

Answer 16

Johnson’s and Scott’s experiment

Question 17

Describe Johnson’s and Scott’s experiment.

on the negative affect of anxiety

Answer 17

• they led participants to believe they were taking part in a lab study
• while in the ‘waiting room’ they experienced two conditions
• one condition was high anxiety with the participants hearing an argument, glass break and then a man walk in with a bloody knife
• another condition was low anxiety with someone walking in carring a pen in a greasy hand

Question 18

Describe the findings of Johnson’s and Scott’s experiment

on the negative affect of anxiety

Answer 18

• 49% of participants who saw the man with the pen could identify him
• 33% of the participants who saw the man with the knife could idenify him
  this shows that anxiety decreases the accuraxy of EWT

Question 19

How can anxiety have a positive affect on memory?

Answer 19

anxiety creates physiological arousal which truggers the fight-or-flight response and therefore increases alertness. this improves memory as we become more aware of cues

Question 20

What evidence is there to support the positive affect of anxiety on EWT?

Answer 20

Yuille’s and Cutshall’s experiment

Question 21

Describe Yuille’s and Cutshall’s experiment.

evidence to show the positive affect of anxiety on EWT

Answer 21

• 13/21 participants who witnessed a real-life shooting were interviewed 4-5 minths after the incidence
• accuracuy was determined by the number of details reported in each account of events
• they were also asked how stressed they were from a scale of 1-7 and if they had any emotional issues

Question 22

Describe the findings of Yuille’s and Cutshall’s experiment?

evidence to show the positive affect of anxiety on EWT

Answer 22

• those with the highest level of stress were most accurate with an accuracy of 88% com pared to the less stressed people’s 75%

this shows that the more stressed you are (more anxious) the better your recall