Eye witness testimony

Question 1

Loftus and Palmer (1974)

Answer 1

lab experiment
45 pp watched 7 clips and answered questionnaire after every clip
- each q had critical question (‘ how fast were the cars going before they hit each other?’)
changed verbs
mean speed estimated by pp
increased. the more intense the verb was

Question 2

Anxiety
Christianson and Hubinette (1993)

Answer 2

interviewed 110 witnesses of real life robberies
victims = higher accuracy in memory

Question 3

Anxiety
Johnson and Scott (1976)

Answer 3

effect of weapon on memory
weapon focus effect

recall 49% for greasy pen
33% for bloody knife
eye contact monitored- eyes drawn to weapon

Question 4

improving EWT
Fisher et al (1984)

Answer 4

cognitive. interviews
- report EVERYTHING
- change order of events
- mental re enstatement of context

Question 5

improving EWT
Fisher et al (1987)

Answer 5

focus on social dynamics of interview
- know when to hold and break eye contact
- encourage to breathe slowly
- remove eye witness anxiety
- remove distractions
- get witness to speak slowly
- ask open ended questions