Eyewitness Testimony: Misleading Information

Question 1

What are Leading Questions?

Answer 1

Leading questions are questions that are worded to suggest a particular answer

Question 2

Case Study - Leading Questions - Loftus and Palmer (1974) - Experiment 1 ‘Smash, Bump, Collide’ - Aim

Answer 2

To test their hypothesis that the language used in eyewitness testimony can alter memory.

Question 3

Case Study - Leading Questions - Loftus and Palmer (1974) - Experiment 1 ‘Smash, Bump, Collide’ - Procedure

Answer 3

• Students watched clips of car accidents.
• A question was then provided to them.
• Critical question: ‘About how fast were the cars travelling when they hit each other?’
• The verb ‘hit’ suggested the speed at which the cars were travelling.
• There were groups of participants, with each group given a different verb in the critical question, eg, hit, contacted, bumped, collided and smashed.

Question 4

Case Study - Leading Questions - Loftus and Palmer (1974) - Experiment 1 ‘Smash, Bump, Collide’ - Findings

Answer 4

The mean speed given by participants was the highest when the verb was changed to ‘smashed’ (40.5mph) vs ‘contacted’ (31.8mph).

Question 5

Case Study - Leading Questions - Loftus and Palmer (1974) - Experiment 1 ‘Smash, Bump, Collide’ - Conclusion

Answer 5

Leading questions influence eyewitness recall of events.

Question 6

Case Study - Leading Questions - Loftus and Palmer (1974) - Experiment 2 ‘Did you see the broken glass?’ - Aim

Answer 6

To test their hypothesis that the language used in eyewitness testimony can alter memory.

Question 7

Case Study - Leading Questions - Loftus and Palmer (1974) - Experiment 2 ‘Did you see the broken glass?’ - Procedure

Answer 7

• Same as experiment 1.
• Asked the question ‘did you see the broken glass?’ at the end of being shown the clip.

Question 8

Case Study - Leading Questions - Loftus and Palmer (1974) - Experiment 2 ‘Did you see the broken glass?’ - Findings

Answer 8

Those in the ‘smashed’ condition were more likely to report seeing glass than those in the ‘hit’ condition.

Question 9

Case Study - Leading Questions - Loftus and Palmer (1974) - Experiment 2 ‘Did you see the broken glass?’ - Conclusion

Answer 9

Leading questions influence eyewitness recall of events.

Question 10

Explanation for leading questions

Answer 10

1) Response bias explanation
- Wording of a question has no effect on memory.
- It may only influence how someone may choose to respond.
- For example, the verb ‘smashed’ may have encouraged participants to choose a higher speed.

2) Substitution explanation
- Wording of a question does have an effect on memory.

Question 11

What is Post-Event Discussion?

Answer 11

When co-witnesses to a crime discuss it with each other, their eyewitness testimonies may become contaminated. They do this by combining the misinformation of others into their own memory.

Question 12

Case Study - Post-Event Discussion - Gabbert and Colleagues (2003) - Aim

Answer 12

Investigate the effect of post-event discussion on the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.

Question 13

Case Study - Post-Event Discussion - Gabbert and Colleagues (2003) - Procedure

Answer 13

• Participants placed in pairs.
• Each participant watched a video of the same crime but from a different angle.
• Each participant could see an element of the same crime that the other could not.
• Both discussed what they had seen then individually completed a test of recall.

Question 14

Case Study - Post-Event Discussion - Gabbert and Colleagues (2003) - Findings

Answer 14

• Discussion condition: 71% of ppts mistakenly recalled aspects they had picked up from their discussion.
• Control = 0%

Question 15

Case Study - Post-Event Discussion - Gabbert and Colleagues (2003) - Conclusion

Answer 15

Post-event discussion affects the accuracy of eye-witness testimonies and is evidence of memory conformity.

Question 16

Explanation for post-event discussion

Answer 16

1) Source monitoring theory
- Memories of events are distorted.
- An EW can recall details of an event but they can’t remember where they remember it from.
- Their own memory? Or someone told them? = source of confusion.

2) Conformity theory
- EWs change what they remember to fit in with co-witnesses (NSI).
- They may do this for social approval or they genuinely think that they are wrong and others are right (ISI).

3) Memory contamination
- The way an event is remembered can also be altered or contaminated by discussing it with others and/or being questioned repeatedly.