Eye Witness Testimony- MISLEADING INFORMATION Flashcards
What is an eye witness
Someone who has seen or witnessed a crime, usually present at the time of the incident.
How are eye witnesses used?
They use their memory of the crime to give their testimony or ‘reconstruction’ of what happened.
What is an eyewitness TESTIMONY?
The evidence provided in court by a person who witnessed a crime, with a view to IDENTIFY the perpetrator.
How is misleading information caused?
- confusing leading questions can confuse eyewitnesses or MANIPULATE their answers.
- this leads to an inaccurate EWT.
What is some evidence for misleading information?
PROCEDURE
LOFTUS AND PALMER (1974)
- participants were asked to watch a video of two cars crashing.
- all participants were asked how fast they thought the white car was going.
- participants were ASKED IN DIFFERENT WAYS, using different words that could impact their answers.
Eg’ ‘ contacted’ , ‘hit’ , ‘collided’ and ‘smashed’.
What is an example of leading questions?
‘Did u see michael at 3pm’
As it uses michael by name.
What were the FINDINGS on loftus and palmer?
Loftus and palmer interviewed participants again and asked them if they saw ‘broken glass’ when cars crashed.
- 32% of participants who heard the word ‘SMASHED’ reported seeing broken glass.
- compared to only 14% who heard the word ‘HIT’
What do loftus and palmers findings show?
Different word choices result in different answers.
- leading questions implant fake memories in participants IMPACTING their answers.
Post event discussion- who investigated the effect of this on EWT?
Gabbert et al (2003)
Participants were shown a video clip and had to decide if the girl in the video stole and had to convict her.
- one group had post event discussion and the other did not.
What were the findings of gabbert et al?
Discussion-
60% said girl was guilty
40% she was not guilty.
No discussion-
6.67% said she was guilty.
93.33% said she was not guilty.
- 71% of the co witness group said that they themselves did not SEE her stealing yet 60% of them still said she was guilty.
- This highlights the issue of post event discussion and the powerful effect it can have on the accuracy of EWT.
What is a limitation of gabbert et al?
It uses VOLUNTEER SAMPLING.
- Volunteer samples are biased because the participants are likely to be highly motivated.
EVALUATION- WHAT IS A WEAKNESS OF MISLEADING INFORMATION. (On EWT)
P- a limitation of research into the effects of misleading information is that they use ARTIFICIAL MATERIALS.
E- eg in LOFTUS study, instead of participants experiencing a real life event, they watched clips of car accidents.
E- Other studies have found that witnesses to a REAL LIFE event actually have really good recall even months later.
L- this is a limitation because studies that use artificial tasks may tell us very little about how leading questions AFFECT EWT in REAL LIFE EVENTS or crimes.
(Lacks ecological validity)
EVALUATION- what is a STRENGTH of research into misleading information. (On EWT)
P- one strength of research into misleading information is that it has been done in a HIGHLY CONTROLLED environment.
E- eg loftus and palmers study allowed for the MANIPULATION of types of words used when asking the speed.
E- this allowed for CONTROL of EXTRANEOUS VARIABLES by showing all the participants the SAME video.
L- this is a strength as it means we are able to establish a CAUSE AND EFFECT relationship between misleading information and how it can effect EWT.
So research has HIGH internal validity.
PRACTICAL APPLICATION AO3 of research into misleading information
P- a strength of research into misleading information is that it has important practical uses in the criminal justice system.
E- the consequences of inaccurate EWT can be very serious. LOFTUS (1975) believes that leading questions can have such a DISTORTING effect on memory when interviewing eyewitnesses .
E- psychologists are sometimes asked to
act as EXPERT WITNESSES in court trials and explain the limits of EWT on juries.
L- this is a strength as it shows that psychologists can help IMPROVE the way the legal system works, especially by PROTECTING innocent people from faulty convictions based on unreliable EWT.
