EWT Flashcards
Misleading information
What is the key study for misleading information?
Hint: loftus
7ish points
Showed 150 ps a film of a car accident
Then split in to two groups : controlled group asked 10 questions consistent with the film such as ‘how fast was car going when it passed stop sign?’
Experimental group asked 10 questions that were inconsistent with film including ‘how fast were cars going when they passed the barn?’
Misleading because was NO barn
One week later all given another 10 questions. Last question ‘did you see a barn?’
Controlled group - 2.7% said yes
Experimental - 17.3% said yes
Concluded that non existent barn added at interview stage and now had become part of original memory
Misleading information
A03 weakness
This study shows witnesses can be misled however important to realise roughly 80% of the experimental group were NOT misled.
Misleading information
A03 strength
Contradictory evidence shows that misleading info may not affect accuracy of EWT…
Loftus conducted a study where ps watched film of theft of a large red purse.
Ps then read a professors account of the theft with several inaccuracies, one of these inaccuracies was that the report stated the theft was of a brown purse
Ps not affected by it and many recalled it as being correctly red
Shows ps not vulnerable to being misled by blatantly incorrect information
Leading questions
Key study by loftus and palmer?
Showed ps a film of car accident and asked crucial question of ‘what speed were the vehicles traveling when they hit?’
Word hit replaced with collided, smashed, contacted, bumped etc for different groups
A week later ps asked if they had seen any broken glass
Contacted 32mph
Smashed 41mph
Those in smashed group more likely to answer yes to broken glass question
Leading questions
A03 strength
Supporting evidence comes from loftus study
Showed specific wording of questions affected accuracy of EWT
Loftus showed ps film of car accident and split into 2 groups. One group asked ‘did you see A broken headlight’ second group asked ‘did you see THE broken headlight’
Those in the ‘THE’ group twice as likely to answer yes to question
Post event discussion
Key study by gabbert et al
(A)PFC
Investigated memory conformity affects between individuals who witness and then discuss criminal event
60 students 60 older adults
Ps in pairs
All watched film of girl returning library book to unoccupied office that was empty
Each partner watched same video but from different angle to stimulate different witness perspectives
Con 1 = experimental con had to discuss event
Con 2 = control con not allowed to discuss
Found 71% of witnesses who discussed event recalled wrong info. No age related differences
Concluded memory conformity in condition 1 probs result of informational social influence as want to be good witness
Post event discussion
A03 strength
The Oklahoma bombing (168 people dead)
3 witness worked at truck rental shop where the bomber McVeigh used in bombing
One of the 3 witnesses claimed they saw McVeigh with accomplice. Other 2 didn’t report witnesses but later did. Sparked hunt for accomplice
Months later first witness said they made a mistake and was no accomplice
Confidence of him influenced others to recall second man
Witnesses admitted they had discussed their memories before being questioned
Post event discussion
Support A03
Studies shown ps interviewed multiple times recall things incorrectly as post event discussion incorporates new memories into original event
Comments or leading qs from interviewer will affect their memory of event
Anxiety
Explain Yerkes Dodson Law theory
Increased in arousal improves performance in EWT but only up to point
When arousal passed critical point called optimum performance declines
Possible witnessing violence raises witnesses arousal past optimum leading to poor memory performance
Anxiety
Theory of weapon focus
Witnesses tend in violent crimes to focus attention to weapon and this results in poor quality EWT as the witness can’t describe much about other aspects of incidence
Presence of weapon increases anxiety levels
Anxiety
Key study supporting weapon focus?
Loftus
Asked ps to wait in a room when they arrived for an experiment
During this wait ps overheard either :
Low key discussion in lab about equipment failure. Person left with greasy hands holding a pen
Heated argument heard breaking class and crashing chairs then person left holding paper knife with blood
Ps given 50 photos asked to identify man
Pen group -49% accurate
Knife group -33% accurate
Ps less accurate as focusing on weapon
Anxiety
Support A03
Violence can cause anxiety
Loftus made ps watch film of crime
Some ps watched version where young boy shot in face
Other ps watched less violent version
Those who saw on violent version recalled better and more detail
Shock of event disrupted other details before and after actual violent scene
Anxiety
Supporting evidence A03
Health
Health clinic study people receiving inoculations (anxiety causing event)
Met researcher and nurse for brief but equal amounts of time
One week later ps asked to identify nurse and researcher from photos
Researcher better recognised as anxiety of injection directly affected accuracy of memory
Anxiety
Loftus supporting evidence A03 for weapon focus
Loftus
Monitored gaze of ps when watching video about robbery
Found focused gaze on gun used
When questioned ps less able to identify robber and recall details of crime than ps who watched version without gun
General evaluation for ALL EWT research
Good applications? Report
Helped our understanding of EWT and prevented convincing information that the 4 factors can affect memory of original event
Loftus findings important in writing of the devlin report which stated EWT could not result in conviction alone in English court without other corroborating evidence
PED studies shown memory can be distorted so led to cognitive interview
