Eye Witness Testimony Flashcards
What is an eyewitness testimony?
Evidence provided in court by people who were there
What was Loftus and Palmer’s first study (1974) on eye witness testimony?
- 45 students shown 7 traffic accidents of film and given questionnaire after
- One critical question about how fast the car was going, each with a different verb
- When used ‘hit’ guessed 34MPH, and ‘smashed’ guessed 40.8MPH
What are leading questions?
Questions that are phrased in a way to prompt a particular answer
What was Loftus and Palmer’s second study on eye witness testimony?
- 150 participants were shown a short film of an accident and asked questions split into 3 groups
- 1st How fast when hit?
- 2nd How fast when smashed?
- 3rd Not about speed
- Returned a week later and were asked ‘Was there any broken glass?’ - most said no but some said yes as the wording of the questions (verb) changes memory of film clip
What was Gabbert et al’s study (2003) on post event discussion?
- Studied participants in pairs
- Each participant saw a video of a crime but filmed from different view points (could see what others could not)
- Both participants discussed what they had seen then did a recall test
What were the findings of Gabbert et al’s study (2003) on post event discussion?
-71% participants mistakenly recalled aspects of the crime they had not seen in the video
- Control group 0%
What are the 2 explanations as to why post event discussion affects eye witness testimony?
Memory contamination and memory conformity
What is memory contamination?
When witnesses discuss crime, eye witness testimony is distorted as people can combine (mis)information from others into our own memories
What is memory conformity?
When witnesses go along with each other as they believe others are right or do not want to be judged, but memory remains the same
