Eyewitness Testimony (Misleading Info) Flashcards
What is eye-witness testimony?
The ability of people to remember the details of events that they have observed
What factors affect the accuracy of ewt?
Misleading information
Anxiety
Leading questions
What is misleading information?
Incorrect info given to the eyewitness after the event
What are the 2 types of misleading information?
Leading questions
Post event discussion
What are leading questions?
A question which suggests a certain answer because of the way it is worded
Who did the key research on leading questions and when?
Loftus & palmer 1974
What is post-event discussion?
Occurs when there is more than one witness to an event and they discuss it with each other. This may influence the accuracy of each witnesses recall of the event. Contamination and combining mis info
Who did the key research on post-event discussions and when?
Gabbert et al 2003
What was the type of experiment & variables for loftus and palmers first study?
Type: lab
IV = verb/wording of the leading question
DV = speed estimate reported by p’s
Aim for loftus and palmers first study?
To test their hypothesis that the language used in eyewitness testimony’s can alter memory
Sample that loftus and palmer used in their first study
Opportunity sampling
45 American students from uni of Washington
Procedure of loftus and palmers first study
- P’s shown 7 films of car accidents (5-30 seconds long)
- after watching, p’s asked to describe what had happened
- then asked specific questions including how fast were the cars going when they (verb) each other?
Findings of loftus and palmers first study
- estimated speed was affected by the verb used
- verb implied info about speed which affected p’s memory of the accident
- p’s asked the ‘smashed’ question thought the cars were going faster than those asked ‘hit’
- results show the verb conveyed an impression of the speed the car was travelling and this altered p’s perceptions
- EWT may be biased by the way questions are asked
Why do leading questions affect EWT?
- Response bias
- Memory representation is altered
What is response bias?
misleading info provided may have influenced the answer a person gave but didn’t actually lead to a false memory of the event
Memory representation is altered:
Critical verb changes a persons perception of the accident
Some critical words would lead someone to have a perception of the accident being more serious
This perception is then stored in a persons memory of the event
Why did loftus and palmer conduct a second study?
To investigate if leading questions create a response bias or if they alter a persons memory representation
Type of experiment, variables and aim of loftus and palmers second study?
Type: lab
IV = verb/wording of the leading question
DV = speed estimate reported by p’s
To test their hypothesis that the language used in eyewitness testimony’s can alter memory
Sample for loftus and palmers second study?
Opportunity sample
150 American students from the uni of Washington
Procedure of loftus and palmers second study
- 150 p’s viewed a video of a car crash
- 50 asked with word smashed, 50 with hit, control group not asked
- a week later, they were questioned about whether they saw broken glass (was none)
Findings of loftus and palmers second study
- p’s asked with word smashed more likely to report seeing broken glass
- misleading info in the form of post event info can affect memory recall of eyewitnesses
Procedure of gabbert et als study
- paired p’s watched a video of the same crime but they were filmed so each p could see elements that the other couldn’t (matched pairs design)
- both p’s discussed what they had seen before individually completing a test of recall
Findings of gabbert et als study
- 71% of p’s mistakenly recalled aspects of the event that they couldn’t see but had picked up in the post event discussion
- control group - no discussion = no errors
Explanations for post event discussion
- source monitoring theory: memories of the event are genuinely distorted. Eyewitness can recall info but cant recall where it came from
- source confusion: from their own memory or someone else’s?
- conformity theory: argues eyewitness memories aren’t distorted by post event discussion but instead eyewitness recall appears to change because they go along with the accounts of cowitnesses (social approval or because they believe cowitnesses are right)
Strength - REAL LIFE APPLICATION
P - has important practical uses in the real world
E - loftus believes leading questions can have such a distorting effect on memory that police need to be careful about how they phrase their questions when interviewing eyewitnesses
C - this research can make a positive difference to the lives of real people through improving the legal system
Limitation of loftus and palmer - ARTIFICIAL
P - p’s watched clips of car accidents
E - different experience from witnessing a real accident, clips lack the stress and emotion of a real accident
C - studies using artificial tasks may tell us little about how leading questions affect EWT in the case of real accidents/crimes (doubt validity)
Limitation - INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
P - older people less accurate when giving eyewitness reports
E - Anastasi & Rhodes found people aged 18-25 and 35-45 were more accurate than those 55-78 years. However, all age groups accurate when identifying people of their own age group.
C - individual differences should be taken into account when assessed the validity of EWT accounts
