Eyewitness Testimony

Question 1

Describe what eyewitness testimony is

Answer 1

Eyewitness testimony is the evidence provided by someone that has seen the crime or event occurring.

Question 2

Define a miscarriage of justice

Answer 2

A miscarriage of justice means a failure of the justice system to attain the ends of the justice especially one that results in the conviction of an innocent person.

Question 3

Define what post event information is

Answer 3

Post event information refers to any information that arrives after the event
that may affect or distort an eye-witness memory of what actually happened.

Question 4

What was the aim of Loftus and Plamer’s study?

Answer 4

The aim of this study was to explore how information provided after an event, in the for of leading questions, might affect people’s memories. The study consists of two separate laboratory experiments.

Question 5

What was the procedure for the first experiment in Loftus and Plamer’s study?

Answer 5

The participants in the study were 45
students from the University of Washington. They were shown 7 videos of car crashes in a random order. Following the 7 videos, participants were given a standardised questionnaire, Most of which were filler questions and were not analysed by the researchers. There was, however, one critical question which asked.
‘How fast were the cars going when they _____ into each other’
The participants were split into five conditions. For each the only things that change were the verbs used in the critical question.
The five verbs were:
Smashed, Collided, Bumped, Hit, Contacted

Question 6

What were the results of the first experiment?

Answer 6

Speeds were estimated incorrectly e.g. for the film of a crash at 20mph the mean estimate was 37.7 mph, (this means the participants were not very good at estimating the speed of the car crashes; this is important because it means that the participants might be more influenced by demand characteristics when estimating the speed
rather than it being the alteration of their memory)
The mean speed estimates for the ‘lowest’ verb (contacted) 31.8 mph and the “highest’ verb (smashed) 40.8 mph, differed by 9 mph

Question 7

What were the conclusions of the first experiment?

Answer 7

Lofts & Palmer found that a change of one word (the verb) in the critical question could significantly affect the participants’ estimate of how fast the car was going.
•Lofts & Palmer carried out the second experiment to see whether the results were due to a reconstruction of the memory or due to a response bias.

Question 8

What was the aim of the second experiment in Loftus and Palmer (1974)

Answer 8

aimed to show more conclusively that information provided after an event is capable of distorting memories, (rather than being a form of demand characteristics).

Question 9

What was the procedure of the second experiment in Loftus and Palmer (1974)

Answer 9

150 Students from the University of Washington. All participants were shown a short film of a multiple car crash - lasting one minute. This time they were split into three different conditions and given a questionnaire that included the following questions:
The first group were asked “how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?”
The second group were asked how fast were the cars going when they hit each
other?”
The final group formed a control group, and were not asked a question about the speed of the cars.
Participants were then recalled back to the lab one week later and asked another series of questions about the film they had seen the previous week.
Once again, most of these questions were “filler’ or ‘distraction’ questions.
The critical question was:
“Did you see any broken glass?” (There was no glass in the actual film).
This question appeared randomly in amongst the other questions. The participants had to respond ‘YES / NO’

Question 10

What was the results of the second experiment in Loftus and Palmer (1974)

Answer 10

A significantly higher proportion of participants in the ‘smashed’ condition reported seeing broken glass (16, which is 32%) compared to the ‘hit’ condition (7, which is 14%).

Question 11

What was the conclusions of the second experiment in Loftus and Palmer (1974)

Answer 11

memory is actually reconstructed by post event information. The results of this experiment suggest that the labels attached to the car-crash by the researcher’s questions affected the
memories of the participants - altering their perception of events a week later.
The idea that the cars had “smashed into each other had led participants to incorporate the idea of broken glass into their memories (as “smashed” implies that glass was broken).

Question 12

What was the overall conclusions in Loftus and Palmer (1974)

Answer 12

1. The reconstructive memory hypothesis is supported - information gathered at the time of an event is modified by data gathered afterwards. Over time, information from these two sources is integrated to the degree that it is impossible to separate them, producing a new memory.
2. Eyewitnesses to car crashes are not very good at estimating the speeds of the vehicles involved.
3. Leading questions can influence the memory of eyewitnesses.
4. Eyewitness testimony may be unreliable.

Question 13

Evaluate your classic study for eyewitness testimony in relation to generalisability

Answer 13

Experiment 1
The researchers used 45 students from the University of Washington.
Divided into 5 groups of 9 participants
Self -selected sample = volunteers/opportunity (may differ from non-volunteers)
Experiment 2
There were 150 students from the University of Washington.
Unrepresentative as we cannot generalise to other ages or occupations. students may also have limited experience in car speeds so may be more influenced by the verb in the question then would have been the case if a different population had been included.

Question 14

Evaluate Loftus and Palmer (1974) in relation to reliability

Answer 14

Standardised, Procedures
In experiment 1 - 7 film clips of automobile accidents, ranging from 5 to 30 seconds in length, The clips were
originally made as part of a driver safety film. In experiment 2 - a 1 minute film was shown to all participants which contained a 4 second multiple car accident. All participants were given a questionnaire to answer which contained filler questions and the critical questions which was “how fast were the cars going when they”

Question 15

Evaluate Loftus and Palmer (1974) in relation to applications

Answer 15

Leading questions can influence the answers given by
eyewitnesses.
• Therefore, leading questions must be avoided by the
police and lawyers when interviewing witnesses.
Psychological knowledge such as this is USEFUL IN
SOCIETY as banning leading questions has helped to
prevent miscarriages of justice
Furthermore, based on evidence produced by Loftus
and others, the DEVLIN REPORT (1976) recommended
trial judges be required to instruct juries that it is not
safe to convict on a single eyewitness testimony alone.

Question 16

Evaluate Loftus and Palmer (1974) in relation to validity

Answer 16

Quantitative data collected of the DV of memory of the car
crashes meant that the data collected was estimates of
speed in mph or Yes/No answers to the broken glass
question this allowed the results to be statistically tests and
they were found to be significant at p<0.05

Question 17

Evaluate Loftus and Palmer (1974) in relation to ecological validity

Answer 17

Watching videos of car crashes is not very upsetting which is
not true of the real life experience of eyewitnesses to car
crashes. So ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY is low because in real life
the experience of witnessing an accident is far more
physiologically arousing and this may affect the memory of
the accident.
•Experiment was carried out in an artificial environment, where participants had to estimate speed of cars from video’s (artificial task) Can’t necessarily say that participants, would give the same answer if they saw a real life car crash. Therefore ecological validity is low

Question 18

Give a weakness of ecological validity in Loftus and Palmer (1974) in PEECC format

Answer 18

P= One disadvantage of lab based experiments like this study is low ecological validity due to the fact that the controlled settings and tasks used can be seen as artificial,
E= This is a limitation because artificiality may lead to behaviour in participants that would not be seen outside the lab so the research findings will be difficult to generalise to what would actually happen in a real life setting.
E= This problem can be seen in the study by Loftus and Palmer on Eyewitness testimony where they use 7 film clips of road accidents. The participants are therefore do not experience the same stress/distress that they might if they were to witness a real road traffic accident.
C=Watching videos of car crashes is not very upsetting which is not true of the real life experience of eyewitnesses to car crashes. So ecological validity is low because in real life the experience of witnessing an accident is far more physiologically arousing and this may affect the memory of the accident.
• C=Participants knew they were being studied and this lowers ecological validity because they were therefore probably aware they had to pay attention and try to remember things - unlike EWT in real life when things happen without warning and people may not realise what is going on at first.

Question 19

Give a strength of objectivity in Loftus and Palmer (1974)

Answer 19

P= This study has the advantage of high levels of objectivity due to the quantitative data collected
E= This is a strength because any difference in the memory of the participants for the car crashes in different
conditions is easy to strictly analyse and less open to subjective interpretation which is an important
characteristic of scientific research.
E = For example, In L&P (1974) strict quantitative operationalisation of the DV of memory of the car crashes
meant that the data collected was estimates of speed in mph or Yes/No answers to the broken glass question
this allowed the results to be statistically tests and they were found to be significant at p<0.05
C= However, such data lacks detail and meaning - we do not know WHY people gave their answers and this
could be seen as a reductionist way of measuring the complexities of EW memory.

Question 20

Describe the Yerkes-Dodson Law (1908)

Answer 20

1. The Yerkes-Dodson Law (1908)
   proposes that:
   • An increase in physiological
   arousal improves performance
   on any given task
   • BUT only up to the critical level
   called the optimum point.
   • Once arousal has passed this
   point performance tends to
   decline.

Question 21

Describe the catastrophe theory

Answer 21

Catastrophe Theory develops the idea of the Yerkes Dodson law to include the concept of anxiety. The theory proposes that, in some cases, alongside high physiological arousal,
feelings of anxiety become so intense that a sudden, catastrophic drop off in cognitive performance Occurs.
Witnessing certain crimes can produce too much anxiety, which causes a dramatic drop in memory performance.

Question 22

How Catastrophe Theory applies to
Eyewitness Testimony

Answer 22

• This theory predicts that witnessing a crime can cause a serious impairment in memory.
• For example:
• Witnessing a violent crime may raise an eyewitness’s arousal and anxiety levels past optimum,
• Therefore unable to recall very much about the event.
• Also people who are anxious most of the time might experience a catastrophic reduction in memory performance when they witness a crime.

Question 23

What is the difference between state and trait anxiety?

Answer 23

TRAIT ANXIETY refers to the persons disposition
or personality. If they have high trait anxiety, it
generally mean they are quite anxious & nervous
most of the time.
• On the other hand, STATE ANXIETY refers to
when person becomes aroused and anxious due
to the situation or circumstances. This might
happen when the person is witnessing a crime.

Question 24

Define weapon focus

Answer 24

Refers to an eyewitness is concentration on weapon to the exclusion of all the details of a crime.
This tendency to focus attention on the weapon present is known as the WEAPON FOCUS EFFECT

Question 25

What are the two possible explanations for Weapon Focus?

Answer 25

i) Arousal and anxiety makes us focus attention on the weapon Lofts et al, (1987) suggest that when people are in a stressful situation their attention is focused towards the most fearful aspect of the situation (i.e. a weapon) and away from the other details
making the eyewitnesses less likely to be able to recall other details, such as facial features or clothing.
il) Unusualness makes us focus attention on the weapon
However, Pickel (1998) argues that weapon focus occurs because
the presence of a weapon is unusual in everyday situations and that it is this unusualness of a weapon that makes us focus on it during a crime.

Question 26

Give evidence supporting weapon focus

Answer 26

LOFTUS & MESSOU (1987)
• Participants were shown a film in which a customer in a restaurant was holding either a gun or a cheque.
• P’s in “cheque” condition were much more accurate at identifying the customer and other details about the film than participants in the “gun” condition.

Question 27

Give evidence challenging weapon theory using a field study

Answer 27

Yuille & Cutshall (1986) carried out a field case study and interviewed witnesses to a real-life shooting in Canada. Thirteen witnesses were interviewed by police after the event
and re-interviewed by the researchers four to five months later, and produced accurate accounts of the event despite the researchers’ deliberate inclusion of two leading questions in the second interview. The witnesses were highly anxious at the time of the incident - their self-reported anxiety was more than 5 on
a 7 point scale. This suggests that the effects of the leading questions and weapon focus may be less pronounced when applied to real-life events.

Question 28

Describe the aims of your contemporary study: Valentine & Mesout (2009)

Answer 28

Aims
1. To test a prediction, derived from the catastrophe model of anxiety.
2.To test the ability of eyewitnesses to correctly identify and describe a person in a real life situation that poses a personal threat, without the participants being aware their eyewitness memory would be tested.

Question 29

What was the aim of part 1 of Valentine & Mesout (2009)

Answer 29

1. To validate a subjective self-report measure of anxiety called the State-Trait Anxiety
   Inventory form Y (STAl - Spielberger et al 1983).
2. To confirm that the experience of the ‘scary person’ did actually result in high levels of arousal and anxiety

Question 30

What was the research method of part 1 of Valentine & Mesout (2009)

Answer 30

CORRELATION between the scores of the participants on the STATE
ANXIETY INVENTORY and the HEART RATE MEASUREMENTS.
THIS IS TO TEST THAT THE SAI (TO BE USED IN THE SECOND PART OF STUDY) IS A VALID MEASUREMENT OF STATE ANXIETY

Question 31

Describe the procedure and data collected for part 1 of Valentine & Mesout (2009)

Answer 31

• Wireless heart rate monitor was strapped around
the participant’s chest.
• Ps then entered the Labyrinth normally with
other visitors
• The scary person would block their path.
• Average heart rate whilst in the Labyrinth was
recorded whilst they walked slowly for
approximately 7 minutes around the exhibit.
• The participants then completed the rest of their
tour of The London Dungeons normally.
• About 45 minutes after leaving the Labyrinth, the
participants reported how they had felt whilst in
the Labyrinth using the STATE ANXIETY
INVENTORY.

Question 32

What was the conclusions of part 1 of Valentine & Mesout (2009)

Answer 32

1. The labyrinth and the ‘scary person’ were successful in inducing physiological arousal - they were scary.
2. The SAl is a valid measure of state anxiety (feeling stressed/ anxious due to the circumstances).

Question 33

What was the procedure of part 2 of Valentine & Mesout (2009)

Answer 33

Participants:
Visitors to The London Dungeon were offered a reduction in the admission price to take part. They were told that they would be asked to complete a questionnaire after their
visit 56 people volunteered (27 females and 29 males)
Materials:
The Horror Labyrinth exhibit in the London Dungeon
The ‘Scary person’
State - Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)
A questionnaire designed to test free recall and cued recall of the ‘scary person’
A nine-person photograph line up. (The lineup comprised of others with very similar characteristics of the ‘scary person, e.g. same sex, similar age, ethnic origin and appearance). All wore similar make up and costume as the scary person and the
photographs were all full-face views with similar backgrounds.
• The volunteer visitors took part in their visit to the London Dungeon in (mainly) exactly the same way as the participants in the first part of
the study:
• THEY WALKED SLOWLY FOR
APPROXIMATELY 7 MINUTES
AROUND THE LABYRINTH EXHIBIT
AND THEY MET THE SCARY
PERSON.
• THE PARTICIPANTS THEN
COMPLETED THEIR TOUR OF THE
LONDON DUNGEONS NORMALLY
VISITING THE EXHIBITS IN THE
SAME FIXED ORDER.

Question 34

What was the results of part 2 of Valentine & Mesout (2009)

Answer 34

•The MEAN STATE ANXIETY SCORE was significantly HIGHER for FEMALES than MALES (females more anxious/ aroused during the experience)
•Participants who reported lower state anxiety levels could describe the scary
person better than those who reported higher state anxiety levels.

Question 35

What was the conclusions of part 2 of Valentine & Mesout (2009)

Answer 35

• This study, supports CATASTROPHE THEORY which predicts a sudden, sharp drop in memory performance under anxiety.
• Experience of stress in a naturalistic context had a negative influence on the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.
• This is similar to that observed in more artificial lab studies.
• Supports the VALIDITY OF LAB BASED STUDIES
• Eyewitness identification may be more vulnerable to the effects of stress in FEMALE witnesses than
MALES.

Question 36

Evaluate generalisability of Valentine and Mesout (2009)

Answer 36

The findings might not be generalisable to everybody, as the sample was made up
of participants that chose to visit a scary tourist attraction. They may have been unusual in
some way and be more inclined to enjoy scary experiences than normal people. This may
have influenced the anxiety they experienced during the visit.

Question 37

Evaluate ecological validity of Valentine and Mesout (2009)

Answer 37

• P= Higher E.V. than lab based studies in this area - due
to the setting and the task being more natural.
• E = This is a strength because it means results on
anxiety and memory may be more generalisable to real
EWs.
• E = The study was in London Dungeon ,which was
verified as a scary places in Part 1 of the study. Also a
task done by Ps -9 person photo line-up - was the
same for real life EWs.
• C= This study helps support the findings of lab based
studies in EWT, so gives the overall theory validity.

Question 38

Evaluate reliability of Valentine and Mesout (2009)

Answer 38

There were good controls used it was the same actor used for all of the participants, acting in the same manner, on the same tour (which helps increase reliability).

Question 39

Evaluate internal validity of Valentine and Mesout (2009)

Answer 39

The researchers undertook additional measures to validate the questionnaires used (in part one), to make sure they were measuring state anxiety. They correlated the heart rate (objective measure) with the state anxiety on the questionnaire (subjective measure) - to make sure the STAl could accurately measure anxiety. This increases the validity of the study.

Question 40

Evaluate ethics of Valentine and Mesout (2009)

Answer 40

Whilst ethical guidelines were not always adhered to (no informed consent or initial right to withdraw), these were important to ensure that the participants didn’t know they were in an experiment and therefore demand characteristics were reduced. However, at the end of the study, the participants were given the right to withdraw their results if they so choose.

Question 41

Describe the issue and debate of psychology as a science in eyewitness testimony

Answer 41

There is a great deal of scientific evidence to support the idea that high levels of arousal and anxiety that are experienced by eyewitnesses can impact negatively on their memory and reduce the reliability of their testimony. Much of this evidence comes from well controlled, lab based and field experiments allowing the possibility that cause and effect to be established.
For example: Lofts, in a lab experiment, reports that when participants had to identify someone who was carrying a knife, they found this harder than the condition where participants had to identify someone who was carrying a pen. Also objective eye gaze tracking measurement showed Ps looked longer at knife than pen

Question 42

Describe the issue and debate the use of psychological knowledge in society in eyewitness testimony

Answer 42

This field of research has important applications in the criminal justice system suggesting that the reliability
of eyewitness’s ability to recognise faces and describe suspects is impaired in anxious situations so their
testimony may not be relied on as the main evidence in court. Valentine & Mesout found that increased
anxiety can affect the reliability of EWT

Question 43

Describe the issue and debate of ethics in eyewitness testimony

Answer 43

For ethical reasons, participants in experiments cannot be exposed to the same levels of stress that a
victim and/or witness of a crime experience as the protection of participants’ is of great importance. These
ethical constraints mean that some studies do not reflect real life crimes in the way they elicit anxiety in
their participants.

Question 44

Describe the issue and debate of reductionism in eyewitness testimony

Answer 44

_E.g. using experiments and field experiments to isolate issues around eye-witness testimony such as
anxiety is reductionist because EWT is, in reality, influenced by many variables at the same time. This
reduces the validity of the research on EWT as it may not give and accurate picture of what influences
factors influence the memory of witnesses to crimes.

Question 45

Summarise what the studies seem to
show us about the reliability of eyewitness testimony in relation to individual differences

Answer 45

Some studies indicate that certain people may be less reliable than others as
eyewitnesses. They seem to show that:
• Female eyewitnesses may be more susceptible to the high levels of arousal
and anxiety experienced when witnessing a crime than males
• Older adults may be more susceptible to misleading information than
younger adults
• Children are susceptible to suggestion by interviewers and may develop
‘false memories’ of events