b6 - eyewitness testimony

Question 1

what is eyewitness testimony?

Answer 1

is the ability of people to remember the details of events which they themselves have observed

Question 2

what are the two main factors that effect EWT?

Answer 2

misleading information

anxiety

Question 3

what is misleading information?

Answer 3

incorrect information given to an eyewitness usually after the event

Question 4

what are the two forms of misleading information?

Answer 4

leading questions

post event discussion

Question 5

what are leading questions?

Answer 5

a question which, because of the way it’s phrased, suggests a certain answer

Question 6

name a study of leading questions

Answer 6

Loftus and Palmer (1974)

Question 7

explain Loftus and Palmers study on leadings questions - first experiment

Answer 7

45 students shown a 7 film clips of traffic accidents,
students had to answer some specific questions and a critical question (speed of the vehicle involved in accident),
5 conditions, key word was changed in each conditions:
“how fast were the cars going when they ___ into each other”
c1: smashed
c2: collided
c3: bumped
c4: hit
c5: contacted
results:
smashed = 40.8mph (fastest speed estimated)
contacted = 31.8mph (slowest speed)

Question 8

what are the two explanations of why leading questions affect EWT?

Answer 8

the response bias explanation,

the substitution explanation

Question 9

explain the response bias explanation of leading questions

Answer 9

the wording of the question has no real effect on ppts memories, but influences how they decide to answer

Question 10

what is post-event discussion?

Answer 10

occurs when there is more than one witness to an event. whiteness discuss what they have seen

Question 11

name a study of post event discussion

Answer 11

Gabbert et al (2003)

Question 12

explain Gabbert et al’s study on post event discussion

Answer 12

procedure:
ppts put in pairs and each shown footage of the same crime but from different view points,
after they discussed what they saw
findings:
71% mistakenly recalled aspects of the event they didn’t see but had picked up in the post event discussion.
control group: 0% mistakenly recalled with no discussion.
witnesses confirm for social approval

Question 13

one strength of misleading information

Answer 13

real life allocations - how police questioning are phrased

Question 14

two limitations of misleading information

Answer 14

studies use artificial material- no emotion
individual differences - people are more accurate at recalling details of a crime when the suspect is similar to themselves

Question 15

explain the substitution explanation of leading questions

Answer 15

the wording of leading questions actually changes the ppts memory

Question 16

how does anxiety effect the accuracy of EWT?

Answer 16

negative effect on recall,

create physiological arousal in the body which prevents us paying attention to important cues

Question 17

what does the presence of weapons have an an individual?

Answer 17

weapon focus - negative effect on EWT

Question 18

name two studies of anxiety on EWT

Answer 18

Johnson and Scott (1976)

Guillermo and Cutshall (1986)

Question 19

explain Johnson and Scott’s study on anxiety on EWT

Answer 19

procedure:
led ppts to believe they were going to take part in a lab experiment.
whilst waiting they heard an argument in the next room
c1: low anxiety: a man walked through the area with a pen and grease on his hands
c2: high anxiety: sound of glass breaking and a man walked through with a pen knife and blood on hands
they had to pick the out the man from a set of 50 photos
findings: 49% c1 could identify the man vs 33% c2

Question 20

what conclusion was made for Johnson and Scott’s study of anxiety on EWT

Answer 20

tunnel theory- attention becomes narrowed and focuses on the weapon as a source of anxiety

Question 21

one limitations of Johnson and Scott’s study

Answer 21

people may focus on the weapon because they are suprised not because of anxiety

Question 22

explain Yuille and Cutshall’s study on anxiety on EWT

Answer 22

procedure:
real life study on shooting in Vancouver, 13 whitnesses took part.
interviews 4-5 months later
findings were compared with interviews by police that took part at the time of the event.
accuracy determine by how many details remembered.
rated their stress on 7-point scale.
findings:
accuracy hadn’t changed in 5 months
those who reported most stress were most accurate

Question 23

two limitation of anxiety on EWT

Answer 23

field studies lack control

ethical issues - creating anxiety (harm)

Question 24

who created the inverted U theory?

Answer 24

Heroes and Doson (1908)

Question 25

what conclusions were made from Yuille and Cutshall’s study of anxiety on EWT

Answer 25

anxiety can enhance alertness accuracy and memory

Question 26

what is the inverted U theory?

Answer 26

the relationship between emotional arousal and performance looks like an inverted U,
lower levels of anxiety increase accuracy, once anxiety goes over the optimal point accuracy decreases

Question 27

what technique is used to improve EWT?

Answer 27

the Cognitive interview technique

Question 28

what is the cognitive interview technique?

Answer 28

a method of interviewing eyewitnesses to help them retrieve more accurate memories.

Question 29

who designed the cognitive interview?

Answer 29

Fisher and Geislman (1992)

Question 31

what are the four main components of the cognitive interview?

Answer 31

report everything,
context reinstatement,
recall in reverse order,
recall from a different perspective

Question 32

explain ‘report everything’ in the cognitive interview and why might it improve recall?

Answer 32

witnesses recall all details that they can remember regardless of how trivial they appear.
might highlight something that has been overlooked

Question 33

explain ‘context reinstatement’ in the cognitive interview and why might it improve recall?

Answer 33

recreat the sene in the mid of the whiteness (signs, smells, sounds, emotions) - cues
cues may trigger recall

Question 34

explain ‘recall in reverse order’ in the cognitive interview and why might it improve recall?

Answer 34

recall events in different orders.

verifies accuracy and reduces possible that recall is influenced by schema/expectations

Question 35

explain ‘recall from a different perspective’ in the cognitive interview and why might it improve recall?

Answer 35

access sense from another’s point of view.

promotes a more holistic view of the event which may enhance recall and reduce influence of schema.

Question 36

name two studies of the cognitive interview

Answer 36

Kohnken et al (1999)

Milne and Bull (2002)

Question 37

explain Kohnken et al’s study for cognitive interview

Answer 37

carried out a meta-analysis of 53 other studies and found that the CI could elicit 34% more detail than standard interviews

Question 38

explain Milne and Bull’s study for the cognitive interview

Answer 38

found if one of the four components of the CI are used individuals, there’s not much difference to standard interviews.
but when two or more components are used there is significant recall improvement

Question 39

two strengths of the cognitive interview

Answer 39

used in police interviews,

many studies support

Question 40

two limitations of the cognitive interview

Answer 40

time consuming to train interviewers,

increases the amount of correct and incorrect information

Question 41

what must police not do when conducting a cognitive interview?

Answer 41

interrupt the witness