Accuracy of eyewitness testimony: Misleading information Flashcards
What is an eyewitness testimony?
The evidence provided in court by someone who witnessed the crime
What are the 2 examples of misleading information?
Post-event discussion and leading questions
What is misleading information?
Information that may lead to an alteration of the eyewitnesses memory
What are leading questions?
Questions that suggest to the eyewitness what answer is desired
Who conducted a study on leading questions?
Loftus and Palmer
How many participants were in Loftus and Palmer’s study?
45
What videos were Loftus and Palmer’s participants shown?
Traffic accidents
What were Loftus and Palmer’s participants given after watching the videos?
A questionare
What was the critical question in Loftus and Palmer’s study?
How fast were the cars going when they [verb] each other?
What are the 5 verbs in Loftus and Palmer’s study?
Contacted, hit, bumped, collided and smashed
In Loftus and Palmer’s study, what was the estimated speed when the verb ‘contacted’ was used?
31.8
In Loftus and Palmer’s study, what was the estimated speed when the verb ‘smashed’ was used?
40.8
In Loftus and Palmer’s secondary study, what question was asked?
Did you see any broken glass?
What was found in Loftus and Palmer’s secondary study?
When a violent verb was used, participants were more likely to say they saw broken glass
What is post-event discussion?
When a conversation with an eyewitness contaminates their memory of the crime
What did Gabbert study?
Post-event discussion
Outline the procedure of Gabbert’s study.
Participants were placed into pairs, watched a video clip separately, and then either recalled what they each saw or discussed it first
What did Gabbert find?
71% who discussed the event before recalling went on to incorrectly recall
What are the 4 AO3 points of the effect of misleading information the accuracy of EWT?
1) Supporting evidence
2) RWA
3) Individual differences
4) Methodological issues
Whose study provides support for misleading information?
Loftus’
In the Disneyland study, what were participants asked to do?
Evaluate advertising material about Disneyland containing misleading information about Bugs Bunny
In the Disneyland study, who were the participants?
College students who visited Disneyland as a child
In the Disneyland study, what was the misleading information?
Buggs bunny isn’t a Disney character
In the Disneyland study, what did Loftus find?
Participants who had evaluated the misleading advertisement were more likely to report that they had met Bugs Bunny at Disneyland as a child than a control group
