EWT - misleading info

Question 1

define leading questions

Answer 1

by form or content suggests to witness what answer is desired or leads them to a desired answer

Question 2

define post event discussion

Answer 2

only info discussed after even has happened
could influence persons memory of event

Question 3

research support for leading questions
Loftus and Palmer

Answer 3

lab experiment
independent groups

USA students - shown 7 films of car accident
had to describe after
asked questions including critical
how fast were cars going when they ____ into eachother?
used 5 verbs
bumped hit contacted smashed collided
estimated speed affected by verb used
smashed = 40.8mph
contacted = 31.8mph

concluded language can have distorting effect on EWT - lead to inaccurate accounts of witnessed event

Question 4

research support for post event discussion
Gabbert et al

Answer 4

watch video of stimulus robbery
from different angles
discussed after
control group - didn’t discuss

71% recalled aspects they didn’t see
60% said girl committed crime
0% control group made errors

conclude witnesses often go along with others
police should gather info immediately to avoid PED

Question 5

evaluation of misleading info
research support

Answer 5

loftus and palmer - car accident experiment for leading questions

Gabbert et al - stimulus robbery
for post even discussion

Question 6

evaluation of misleading info
practical application

Answer 6

for police officers and investigators
gather info immediately after and to take care in how phrasing questions
improving how legal systems work
and improving quality of expert eyewitnesses during court process

Question 7

evaluation of misleading questions
Reliability

Answer 7

Many studies conducted
regularly found similar results
e.g loftus - controlled experiment - carried out in lab
control extraneous variables
EASY TO REPLICATE
means researchers using identical procedures should produce similar results
that affects EWT negatively

Question 8

evaluation of misleading info
contradictory real life evidence

Answer 8

Yuille and Cutshall- contradict loftus and palmer findings
found leading questions didn’t reduce accuracy of recall
real robbery - EW interviewed
4 months after - very accurate recall
even tho given 2 LQ
suggesting MLI may have less influence on accuracy of real life