accuracy of eyewitness testmony: misleading information Flashcards
what’s leading questions
question suggests to witness what answer lead them to desired answer
key study of leading questions
LOFTUS AND PALMER
Experiment 1
45 students shown 7 films of traffic accidents. after each film were given questionnaire which asked them to describe accident and then answer specific questions about it. CRITICAL QUESTION “about how fast were the cars doing when they hit each other”. other group was given smashed collided bumped contracted . was leading wuestion as it suggested answers guven
findings
smashes - 40.8 collided - 39.3 bumped - 38.1 hit - 34.0 contacted - 31.8
experiment 2
participants was divided into 3 groups and shown film of car accident lasting 1 minute, then asked about the speed. then told to return 1 week later when asked 10 questions, including “did you see any broken glass” depending on the verb given before some would think they were broken glass
finding
yes - 29
no - 121
words such as bumped and hit would be no
post event discussions- conformity affect
witness go along with each other to win social approval or because they feel like they’re right
repeat interviewing
use leasing questions to alter individuals memory for events
eye witness testmony
evidence provided in court by person who witnessed crime
misleading info
information that may lead witness memory to be altered causing false inaccurate memory
post even discussion
convo between do witness and eyewitness after crime taken place
strength
supporting evidence
LOFTUS conducted memorable study involving bugs bunny, students who had busted disney land as children were asked to asked evulate about disney involving misleading info of bunny or ariel, pariciplants likely to report having shaken hands. shows power of misleading info
limitation
response bias
BEKERIAN and bowers replcated study found participants are no susceptible to misleading infor if questions are presented same order as original data
