EWT: Misleading Information

Question 1

What are two aspects of an Eye Witness Testimony that should be avoided to prevent misleading info?

Answer 1

• Leading questions

- Post-event discussion

Question 2

How do leading questions affect EWT?

Answer 2

• Response-Bias Explanation: Wording of a question influences the kind of answer given​
• Substitution Explanation: Wording of a question interferes with the original memory, distorting its accuracy

Question 3

Who did an experiment into leading questions?

What did they find?

Answer 3

• Loftus and Palmer
• Participants given a different verb when asked what speed the cars were going when they: hit, contacted, bumped, collided or smashed
  -The verb ‘contacted’ had a mean estimated speed of 31.8 mph. The verb smashed, the mean was 40.5mph
  ​
• The leading question biased the eyewitnesses recall of an event

Question 4

Who did an experiment into Post-event discussions?

What did they find?

Answer 4

• Gabbert et al (2003)​
• Participants watched video of same crime but filmed from different angles
• 71% mistakenly recalled aspects that they did not see in their video but had picked up in post-event discussion
• Witnesses mix up their memories with others accidently (memory contamination) or to try and gain social approval (memory conformity)

Question 5

What is a strength of research into misleading info?

Answer 5

• Research has real-life application​

Question 6

What is a weakness of research into misleading info?

Answer 6

• Individual differences in accuracy of EWT not considered

- Lab studies (suffer from demand characteristics and artificial stimuli​) - lack external validity