Accuracy of eyewitness testimony: misleading information Flashcards
What two things may lead to misinformation in EWT?
Leading questions and post-event-discussion
What are misleading questions?
A question that, either by its form or content, suggests to the witness what answer is desired or leads them to desired answer
Who conducted a key study on leading questions?
Loftus and Palmer (1974)
What were Loftus and Palmers procedure?
45 student were shown 7 films of different traffic accidents - then given a questionnaire which asked them to describe the accident - critical question “about how fast were the cars going when they hit each other”
1 group given this question, other 4 groups were were given the verbs smashed, collided, bumped or contacted (this is a leading question)
What did Loftus and Palmer find in their study?
Leading questions affected the response (when the verb smashed was used, the mean estimate speed was higher)
What did Loftus and Palmer do in their second experiment?
New set of participants had to watch the car accidents - asked to return a week later - were asked the critical question of “did you see glass?” - there was none, but presumably those who thought the car was travelling faster might be more likely to think that there would be broken glass - these findings who that leading questions can alter actual memories of events
What is post-event discussion?
A conversation between co-witnesses or an interviewer and an eyewitness after a crime had taken place which may contaminate a witness’ memory for the event
What is the conformity effect in post-event discussion?
Co-witnesses may reach a consensus view of what actually happened
Who investigated conformity effect and what was their study/findings?
Gabbert et al - participants were in pairs - each partner watch a different video of the same event (in one condition pairs discussed) - a very high number of witnesses (71%) who had discussed the events went on to mistakenly recall items accrued during discussion
Why may repeat interviewing affect accuracy of eyewitness testimony?
-Each time interviewed, there is the possibility that comments from the interviewer will become incorporated into their recollection of events
-Interviewer may also ask leading questions and thus alter individuals memory of events
What supporting evidence is there for impact of misleading questions?
Loftus – Bugs Bunny Study:
College students who had visited Disneyland as children were shown false ads featuring Bugs Bunny (not a Disney character) or Ariel (not around during their childhood). Those exposed to the false info were more likely to “remember” meeting these characters than those in the control group.
Conclusion: Misleading information can create false memories.
Why do EWT studies lack ecological validity?
Lab experiments such as those carried out by Loftus may not represent real life because people don’t take the experiments seriously/they are not emotionally aroused in the same way they would a real accident - Foster et al demonstrated this as if participants thought they were watching a real robbery their
This suggests that tests artificial and do not tell us much about the actual impact of leading questions
Why may Loftus and Palmers research cause a response bias?
Bekerian & Bowers replicated Loftus et al study - found participants are not susceptible to misleading information if questions are presented in same order as OG data (Loftus used random) - suggest the order of questions has a significant effect and therefore memory change was due to response bias not storage
Why might individual differences affect EWT?
Schacter et al -older people struggle to remember certain things - more prone to misleading information when giving testimony
