eye witness testimony: misleading information Flashcards
what is eyewitness testimony?
the ability of people to recall the details of a event they have seen
what is misleading information?
incorrect information given to the witnesses of an event
what are leading questions?
questions phrased to suggest a expected answer
what is post-event discussion?
discussion between co-witnesses after a event
How did Loftus and Palmer investigate the effect of leading question?
they had ppts watch a film of a car crash then asked them to recall how fast the cars where going when they crashed using different critical words
What critical words did Loftus and Palmer use?
smashed, hit, collided, bumped, contacted
What were the results of Loftus and Palmer’s investigation into the effect of leading question?
the mean estimated speed for ‘contacted’ was 31.8 mph where as ‘smashed’ gave a mean speed of 50.5 mph
What did Loftus and Palmer conclude from the first stage of their experiment?
the leading question created a response-bias and the wording of the question altered how they answered the question and not the memory
What was the second stage of Loftus and Palmer’s investigation into leading questions?
they asked participants if they saw any glass
What did Loftus and Palmer find in the second stage of their experiment?
those who heard the word smashed were more likely to report seeing glass then those who heard the word hit despite there being no glass
What did Loftus and Palmer conclude from the second stage of the experiment?
the critical verb actually changed the ppts memory of the event
What are the criticisms of Loftus and Palmer’s experiment?
lacked external validity and a small sample set of only 45 ppts
what is source-manipulation theory?
the repeated exposure to things such as sight or sound or imagination can muddle memories causing us to recall details that aren’t real
How did Gabbert investigate post-event discussion?
How ppts watch a video of a crime from different angles then either discuss the crime or not
What did Gabbert find when investigating post-event discussion?
71% of ppts who where allowed to discuss recalled elements they did not see, the control group had 100% accuracy
