Eyewitness testimony Flashcards
What is eyewitness testimony
A legal term which refers to an account of an event given by people who witnessed it first hand.
What is misleading information
Incorrect information given to an eyewitness
What are leading questions
A question which suggests an answer
What is post event discussion
When multiple people witness an event and discuss it afterwards
What is the aim and results of the Loftus and palmer experiment 1974
Aim- to investigate how leading questions affect EWT
Smashed- 40.8 mph, collided- 39.3 mph, bumped- 38.1 mph, hit- 34 mph, contacted 31.8 mph
(Simon Cowell Bit His Cat)
What was the aim and results of the Gabbet et al experiment
To investigate the effect of post-event discussion on the accuracy of EWT
71% of eyewitnesses reported information they hadn’t seen and 60% said they saw a girl stealing when they didn’t.
What were the findings from the Yuille and cutshaw experiement.
Yuille and Cutshaw
Witnesses of a real shooting had accurate memories of a stressful event. After 5 months 13 people were re-interviewed and even then misleading questions had no affect on recall accuracy.
What are the strengths of Eyewitness testimony research
+has real life applications- Memory can be influenced by lawyers questioning. Improved the legal system
What are the weaknesses of Eyewitness testimony research
- Research in artificial situations- doesn’t model real life so hard to generalise- different emotions with a video.
- Vunerable to demand characteristics- PPTs could give answers they ‘think’ they should.Threatens internal validity
- Samples may not represent a range on individuals-
Samples may not represent a range of individuals
Age
PPs more accurate at identifying pps who were similar age to them
Anastasi and Rhodes- older people were less accurate.
Support that the L&P study was altered and not a response bias
Broken glass study- those who had ‘smashed’ said there was broken glass in response to, ‘did you see any broken class.’
