Eye witness testimony Flashcards
outline the effects of anxiety on eyewitness testimony
Sometimes anxiety can improve memory, but it can also sometimes make it less accurate and detailed. This is because of fight or flight, where increased heart rate would probably reduce memory but dilated pupils may make it better
Describe the procedure and findings of Johnson and Scott’s study
Participants were in a waiting room, believing they were going to take place in a lab study.
Group 1 overheard a heated argument, then a man left holding a pen with grease
Group 2 overheard an argument and a man exited with a knife and blood in his hands
The participants then had to pick the man from 50 photos
In the low anxiety situation, 49% identified the man
In the high anxiety situation, 33% identified the man
What does Johnson and Scott’s study show about the effects of anxiety on EWT?
Anxiety has a negative effect on recall
How does Pickel’s study challenge Johnson and Scott’s findings?
They repeated the study using different objects:
-Wallet (low anxiety, normal)
-Raw chicken (low anxiety, unusual)
-Gun (high anxiety, unusual)
-Scissors (high anxiety, normal)
Participants watched a video of an incident in a hairdressers with each of these items and had to recall the man’s face
Recall was worst for gun and chicken, suggesting that is how unusual the objects are rather than the anxiety they evoke
What did Yuille and Cutshall find about the effects of anxiety in their study?
They asked real life witnesses of a gun shop robbery where the robber was killed their anxiety at the time on a 7 point scale
They found that even 5 months later, they were able to recall the incident in detail, they didn’t alter in response to leading questions. Those who reported the highest level of stress were more accurate than those who were less stressed
Describe the Yerkes-Dodson law
Arousal increases performance up to a certain level, and the after a certain point, increased arousal decreases performance
What is tunnel theory?
Anxiety happens because a weapon is present, so the attention of the participant gets focused on the weapon
How can the fight or flight response be used to explain the findings of research into EWT?
All effects of fight or flight could improve memory as they could improve alertness, but they could also decrease memory as they could get too stressed and forget what happened
Explain leading questions and give an example
A question that encourages the witness to answer in a certain way due to the subtle introduction of new information
What colour hat was the man wearing?
Describe the procedure and findings of Loftus and Palmer’s study
They showed 45 American students a car accident and asked how fast a car was travelling when it:
-bumped
-collided
-contacted
-hit
another car
They found that the more aggressive the verb, the quicker the participants guessed the car was going
What does Loftus and Palmer’s study show about the effects leading questions on eye witness testimony?
Leading questions change how we remember a situation
Why might the findings of Loftus and Palmer’s study be different to what may happen when witnessing a real life crash?
They know they’re in an experiment as it was on a video, so they’re likely to remember it better as consequences aren’t as high. Also they won’t feel as much anxiety about it
Explain the difference between substitution theory and response bias
Substitution theory= the verb used changes the memory of participants
Response bias= the memory of participants are not actually changed but the verb used encourages them to choose a higher speed
What did Yuille and Cutshall find about the effects of leading questions on EWT?
Their memories of the shooting did not alter in response to leading questions
What is post event discussion?
Witnesses discuss what they have seen, leading to contamination of their memories. Memory conformity can occur, where people agree with others as they doubt their own memories, leading to false memories due to reconstruction
Describe the procedure and findings of Gabbert’s study on post event discussion
Participants saw a robbery in a store and then discussed what they saw after with a confederate who was telling them incorrect information.
75% reported seeing things that weren’t in the video
What does Gabbert’s study show about the effects of misleading info on EWT?
It shows post event discussion had changed their recall of the event
What did Bodner find reduces the negative effects of misleading info on EWT?
If participants were warned about the effects of it. Participants who were warned that anything they heard from co-witnesses is secondhand had much better recall of the event
How does research into the effects of EWT have useful real life application?
It relates to the testimony of real witnesses and can lead to improved accuracy
Why might research into factors affecting EWT have limited application to real life?
Artificial scenarios are not the same as real life crimes
Name and describe the 4 main techniques used in the cognitive interview
- Report everything: avoids leading questions
- Mental reinstatement of original context: for example environment, intentions and feelings
- Changing the order: prevents schema being used
- Recalling the incident from another perspective: makes you think harder and act as a cue
How does Kohnken et Al support the effectiveness of the cognitive interview?
They conducted a meta-analysis of 50 studies and found a 34% increase in the amount of correct information recalled using the cognitive interview compared to a standard interview
Why might the CI be difficult to be used consistently by police?
Different versions of the CI exist- police forces creating their own versions, making it difficult to compare and analyse
Why might the CI not always lead to increased accuracy of recall?
It can also increase the amount of inaccurate information
