Eye-witness Testimony - Misleading Information Flashcards
What is an eyewitness?
Someone who has seen or witnessed a crime, usually present at the time of the incident.
What is eyewitness testimony?
The evidence provided in court by a person who witnessed a crime, with a. View to identifying the perpetrator.
What is a leading question?
Leading questions contain misleading pieces of information or wording and are usually closed.
“A question that either by form or context suggests a desired answer or leads a witness to believe a desired answer.”
Who tested this?
Loftus & Palmer
Loftus & Palmer (1974): Verb change and speed test
Procedure
45 students.
5 groups of 9.
Shown films of car accidents.
Criticism question: “how fast were the cars travelling when they _____ each other?”
The verb was changed for each condition: hit, collided, bumped, smashed, and contacted
Loftus & Palmer
Findings and conclusion
Found the verb affected the speed estimated of participants.
Smashed = 40.8mph
Contacted = 31.8mph
Leading questions affect EWT. They respond the cue given by the leading question and amend their testimony accordingly.
Experiment 2: Loftus and Palmer - Broken Glass
PROCEDURE
150 student ppts
3 groups of 50.
Were shown a short film that showed a multi-vehicle car accident then were asked questions about it.
1st group - verb - hit
2nd group - verb - smashed
3rd group - asked nothing
A week later, all groups were asked if they saw any broken glass. (There was none in the film)
Loftus and Palmer: Broken Glass
FINDINGS
Those who were given the verb “smashed”, had a significantly higher response rate of 16 compared to “hit”.
What is response bias?
Leading questions affect recall because they affect the answers given. Do not affect the memory of the event. Thus, the answers are given because the question suggests the answer being looked for.
What is substitution?
The leading question has affected the recall of the memory and distorts the memory of the event.
Gabbert et al - Effect of post-event discussion
PROCEDURE
Investigate memory conformity effects between witnesses who discuss a criminal event.
- 60 uni students (18-30)
- 60 older adults (60-80)
Two video clips used: 90 seconds each, containing the same events but filmed from different angles
to simulate different witness perspectives
The video was a girl entering an unoccupied office and committing an opportunistic crime.
Partcipants either watch perspective A or B.
Half ppts were given time to discuss what they had seen with ppt who saw a different perspective.
Other half completed a questionnaire alone.
45 minutes later (after a distraction task), all participants completed a questionnaire individually about their recall of the original event.
Gabbert et al - FINDINGS
71% of witnesses who had discussed the event with a co-witness reported information they had not seen and had gathered via discussion. 60% reported the girl was guilty of a crime that they had not actually seen.
What is memory contamination?
States that after PED, the memory is changed because the new information has become mixed with the memory of the original event (retroactive interference).
What is memory conformity?
PED does not affect the actual memory, but instead they are changing their answers because they are conforming to other for social approval.
Strengths of EWT - misleading information
P - Further support from Research
E - Braun et al - college students who had visited Disneyland as children were asked to evaluate advertising containing misleading about Bugs Bunny (isn’t apart of the Disney franchise) or Ariel (who wasn’t introduced during their childhood). Ppts assigned to these groups reported having shaken hands with these characters more than a control group
P - practical/real-life applications
E - Wells & Olsen - faulty EWT is main cause of wrong convictions
