EWT- Misleading Info + Post event discussion

Question 1

what is the AO1 for leading questions

Answer 1

• A leading question is any question posed to a witness that encourages them to answer in a particular way e.g. “Did you see the man in glasses?”.
• There are two theories put forward as to why leading questions affect EWT:

Question 2

what are the 2 theories put forward as to why leading questions affect EWT

Answer 2

• the response bias explanation
• substitution explanation

Question 3

what is the response bias explanation

Answer 3

The wording of the question has no real effect on the pps’ memories, but just influences how they decide to answer.
For example they did not remember seeing a man in glasses but because the question infers he was present, they answer yes anyway.

Question 4

what is the substitution explanation

Answer 4

This theory says that the pps’ memories become fundamentally altered by the leading question. i.e. the man in glasses becomes substituted into the original memory and the pps really believe he was present.

Question 5

what is the AO3 for leading questions

Answer 5

research evidence:
- Loftus (Elizabeth! Our first female psychologist!) carried out research which supports both of these theories.
- This is another SEMINAL study in Psychology (like Milgram, Zimbardo, Asch)

Question 6

what is the aim of Loftus’ study

Answer 6

To investigate whether leading questions influence EWT

Question 7

what is the procedure of Loftus’ study

Answer 7

• Participants were shown a film of a car accident
• The participants were then split into 5 groups and each group was asked one of the following questions:
• How fast were the cars going when they CONTACTED each other?
• How fast were the cars going when they HIT each other?
• How fast were the cars going when they BUMPED each other?
• How fast were the cars going when they COLLIDED with each other?
• How fast were the cars going when they SMASHED each other?

Question 8

what are the results of Loftus’ study

Answer 8

• Contacted- 31 mph
• Hit- 34 mph
• Bumped- 38 mph
• Collided- 39 mph
• Smashed- 41 mph
• When people were asked, one week later, whether they had seen any broken glass, the participants in the SMASHED group were more likely to answer “yes”.

Question 9

what is the conclusion of Loftus’ study

Answer 9

Support for the response- bias explanation:
- Pps who originally heard ‘smashed’ were more likely to estimate the speed of the car as 10mph HIGHER than those who heard ‘contacted’- so the adjective influenced their response.
Support for the substitution explanation:
- The critical verb used altered the memory of the incident, with those in the ‘smashed’ condition being more likely to report seeing glass that was not ever there.

Question 10

what is the AO1 for post event discussion

Answer 10

• When co-witnesses to a crime discuss it with each other, their EWTs may become contaminated.
• This is because they combine (mis)information with other witnesses with their own memories

Question 11

what is the AO3 for post event discussion

Answer 11

research support:
- Gabbert (2003)

Question 12

what was Gabbert’s procedure

Answer 12

• studied pps in pairs.
• Each individual was shown a video of the same crime but filmed from different points of view. This meant that each individual could see elements of the event that the other could not (e.g. the title of a book a person was carrying)
• Both participants then engaged in post-event discussion before individually completing a test of recall.

Question 13

what were Gabbert’s findings

Answer 13

• 71% of pps mistakenly recalled aspects of the event they had never been exposed to (but had picked up during the post-event discussion)
• The corresponding figure in a control group who did not have the opportunity for PED was 0%.

Question 14

what did Gabbert conclude

Answer 14

• Gabbert concluded that witnesses may do this due to ISI or NSI.
• This phenomenon has been labelled “memory conformity”.

Question 15

what is the AO3 for AO3

Answer 15

• Real life Application- Loftus work has lead to careful consideration by police of how they question witnesses and the language that they use when doing so.
• Ecological Validity- these lab studies are artificial- watching a video of a crime/accident is very different to experiencing one in real life. As there is evidence that emotions effect memory then these studies may all seriously lack validity.
• demand characteristics will also reduce the validity of any laboratory experiments into EWT
• There is evidence that individual differences such as AGE have a substantial effect on the extent to which misleading information affects EWT. Research has shown that children and the elderly are much more at risk of their memories being altered through misleading information than middle- aged people.