Eyewitness Testinomies

Question 1

What is an eyewitness testimony?

Answer 1

It is a legal term that refers to the use of eyewitness to give evidence in court concerning the identity of someone suspected of committing a crime.

Question 2

What two factors of EWT affect the accuracy of their recall?

Answer 2

Misleading information and Anxiety

Question 3

What is misleading information?

Answer 3

Misleading information is incorrect information that has been given to the eyewitnesses after the event they need to recall information on has taken place. It comes in two forms Leading questions and post event discussion.

Question 4

What is a leading question?

Answer 4

A question that is phrased in a way that seeks for a desired answer.

Question 5

What is post event discussion?

Answer 5

Occurs when there is more than one witness at the event, after the event a discussion will take place which may influence the accuracy the eyewitness recall

Question 6

What are the three stages an eyewitness goes through?

Answer 6

• Encodes
• Retains
• Retrieves

Question 7

Outline Loftus and Palmers aim, method and findings

Answer 7

Aim: To investigate if the language or verb used in a question could affect the accuracy of recall of an eyewitness

Method: 45 students were shown 7 films of different traffic accidents, after the film students were given a questionnaire which asked them to describe the accident. There was a critical question about how fast the cars were going. However the students would receive different questions where the word hit would be replaced with other words such as Smashed, collided, bumped and contacted.

Findings: Smashed on average received the highest speed and the mean was 41 mph while contacted on average received the lowest speed and the mean was 32 mph

Question 8

AO3 for loftus and palmer

Answer 8

• Control cause and effect
• Lacks ecological validity/ anxiety
• Lacks population validity/ 45 students

Question 9

Outline Gabbert research into post event discussion aim, method and findings

Answer 9

Aim: To investigate If post event discussion would affect the accuracy of recall of participants

Method: Researchers studied participants in pairs. Each. Participants watched a video of the same crime but filmed from different points of view, this means participants could see other elements of the crime some couldn’t. Both participants would then discuss the crime and were then asked to recall information from the crime from the video they had watched.

Finings: 71% of participants mistakenly recalled aspects of the event that they didn’t see in their video and participants who did not discuss the crime had a 0% inaccuracy recall rate

Question 10

AO3 for post event discussion

Answer 10

• Control
• lacks ecological validity
• other explanations

Question 11

What is anxiety and what are symptoms of anxiety/

Answer 11

An unpleasant state of emotional and physical arousal. 
Symptoms: 
Muscle Tension 
Sweatiness 
Increased heart rate 
Worried thoughts and emotions

Question 12

What does Yerkes-Dodson theory of anxiety suggest?

Answer 12

-Moderate levels of anxiety is best for accurate recall for information

Question 13

Outline Loftus weapon effect aim, method and findings

Answer 13

Aim: To investigate the effects of high anxiety and the accuracy of recall of information from EWT

Method:

A field experiment was conducted.

The first condition involved Participants were asked to sit outside a laboratory and the first condition participants would hear non aggressive chatter and the man would emerge from the laboratory holding a pen

The second condition participants were asked to sit out the laboratory and they heard aggressive chatter with glass breaking and a man would emerge from the laboratory holding a knife covered in blood

They were then asked to recall information from the events they were in.

Findings: People whop came from the peaceful condition had more Accurate recall of information compared to witnesses who came from the violent scene

Question 14

Outline AO3 for Loftus weapon effect

Answer 14

• lacks control/ cant establish cause and effect

- High ecological validity

Question 15

Outline Yullie and Cuthsalls aim, method and finings

Answer 15

Aim: To investigate how anxiety affects the accuracy of information recalled

Method:

• A natural experiment was conducted.
• 13 Participants investigated were involved in a shooting at a gunshot and were interviewed 4-5 months after the event took place.
• They were asked to rate how stressed they were on a 7 scale and then asked to recall the information and details of the event

Findings: They accurately recalled information and those who reported they were more stressed accurately recalled more information.