Eye witness testimony Flashcards
What is an eye witness testimony?
An account of an individual who watched a crime take place.
What is misleading information?
Incorrect information given to witness after the event which distorts memory.
Leading question is a question that entails a certain answer.
What did Barlett find?
That memories are not always accurate.
When retelling story, individuals would level the story to make it more in tune with their culture and change words that were more familiar to them.
What is response bias explanantion?
Leading question doesn’t affect memory, but how someone chooses to answer question.
Critical word influenced witnesses response.
What is subsitution explanation?
Wording of leading question actually changes a persons memory of the event.
Car goes smash 1974
What was the Loftus and Palmer study?
Suggested that memory cannot be a factual way to record events.
45 students of UofW watched 7 short videos and split into groups of 5 where they were asked questions about videos.
Heavily controlled– same age PPTs, same question asked apart from critical question.
More extreme the word, the higher the estimation of speed.
Smashed –40.8
Contacted —31.8
What was the 2nd study of Loftus and Palmer?
150 students from univeristy of washington split into 3 groups.
One used word hit
One used word smashed
One had no question about speed
1 week later, PPTs asked if they saw broken glass.
Double of the people who had smashed said they saw broken glass compared to the groups that didnt.
Conclusion.
Information from perceiving an event and information supplied after the event makes information intergrate into one reconstructed memory.
real life heros
Yuille and Cutshall (1986)
Field experiment —–> real life crime using witnesses who saw a gun shooting.
Out of 21 witnesses, 13 agreed to research interview.
2 misleading questions were asked
Central witnesses memory was 84.6 % accurate and peripheral witnesses were 79% accurate.
10/13 rejected misleading questions.
What is post event discussion?
When co-witneses share their accounts with each other, making their testimony contaminated
What is source monitoring theory?
Source confusion.
When memories of the event are genuinely distorted as witness cannot recall where information came from.
Conformity theory
Witnesses account changes only to go along with co witness.
Social approval
Memory of event is not affected.
What did Gabbert et al say
Paired PPTs watched video of same crime but each watched video in different angles.
One group were allowed to discuss, the others were not
Group that discussed reported 71% of information they did not see.
The ones who didn’t discuss = 0%
FOSTER
Evaluation: more motivated in real life
Weakness of misleading questions
Lab = cannot reproduce stress associated with witnessing real event
Foster 1994 said EWT have more consequences in real life compared the lab studies.
PPTs are more motivated to be accurate in real life than in lab.
Loftus too pessimistic about effects on misleading info –> EWT may be dependable
Weakness: Sutherland and Hayne 2001
Evaluation against substitution
Sunderland and Hayne. (2001)
Watched clip + asked misleading questions
Central details more accurate than peripheral ones.
Central details less affected by misleading information. –> resistant
Supports EWT as original memories were not distorted.
This outcome not predicted by substitution explanation.
Evaluation: strength
ALEXA play into the new world by SNSD
Real world application
Consequences of EWT can be damaging.
Leading questions = distortion of memory
Change in policing techniques
Difference in lives
Improving legal system
Implication on economy –> less likelihood of wrongful convictions
Evidence against memory conformity theory?
PD actually alters eye-witness testimony
Replica of Gabberts experiment.
Skagerberg + Wright (2008) –> showed film clips + discussed
PPTs blended the accounts together.
Suggests that memory distortion due to contamination of post event discussions.
