EWT: Misleading information Flashcards
What are the types of Misleading information?
Leading questions and post-event discussion
What are leading questions?
Leading questions are questions which, because of the way it is phrased, suggests a certain answer.
What are post event discussions?
Post event discussion is when witnesses discuss an event and this causes their EWT to become contaminated.
What was the study to investigate Leading questions?
Loftus and Palmer had participants describe how fast a car was going by estimating the speed. They changed the verb in the question, ‘contacted, hit, bumped, smashed, collided’
Findings- mean speed for ‘contact’ was 31.8mph
mean speed for ‘smashed’ was 40.5
What is the response-bias explanation?
The response-bias explanation suggests that the wording of a question has no real effect on the participant’s memories but just influences their answer.
What is the substitution explanation?
The substitution explanation states that the wording actually changes the memory of the clip. For example, Loftus and Palmer conducted the investigation again. When participants heard ‘smashed’ they claimed to have seen smashed glass when there was no smashed glass.
What was the study to investigate post event discussion?
Gabbert et al studied participants in pairs. They showed a video of a crime and showed each participant in a pair a different angle. The pairs discussed the video afterwards.
Findings- 71% of participants accidentally recalled aspects of the event they did not see. the control group where there was no discussion had 0%.
Discuss support for misleading information
(Applicable to real life)
The findings can be used to warn the justice system in real life. For example, Loftus’ research revealed that leading questions and post event discussion can lead to significant distortions in memory. Eyewitness accounts should not be trusted, therefore should be treated with caution.
Discuss weaknesses for misleading information
(Artificial)
Loftus used a video of an accident, different from the stress of experiencing a crime in real life. It would have caused high tension. People would act differently if they knew they were aiding an actual investigation. Reducing ecological validity.
Discuss weaknesses for misleading information
(Own age bias)
There is evidence to suggest that some people are more influenced by leading questions than others.
Anastasi & Rhodes (2006) found people in age groups 18-25 and 35-45 were more accurate than people in the group 55-78 years. Younger people are more accurate when giving testimonies. However, they also found that all age groups were more accurate when identifying people of their own age group, called own age bias. Therefore, due to own age bias, people are more able to recognise features of people who are their own age. Researchers are more likely to use younger people in observations, therefore we cannot generalise these results to all ages.
