factors affecting accuracy of EWT Flashcards
what is a schema
framework of our ready made expectations that help us to understand our world
what are schemas made up of
concepts
events
knowledge that already exsists in our mind
(experiences and media help with this)
why are schemas needed
help us to interpret world
store any new knowledge
‘fill in any gaps’ in new info
why are schemas a problem
distort understanding and recall
when info doesnt readily fit into our exsisting schema we adapt it so it does
what is an eye witness testimony
the evidence provided in court by a person who witnessed a crime with a view to identify the perpetrator of the crime
what is a leading question
questions that make it likely a participant schema will influence then to give a desired answer
example of leading question
what colour tie was he wearing (may not be wearing a tie)
what is misleading information
incorrect information given to the eye witness that may alter a memory after the event into that suggests a desired response
example of misleading information
given them pictures of people and none of them did the crime
what is post event discussion
a misleading conversation after an incident has occured that may alter a witness memory. info added to a memory after the event has occured
what is the loftus and palmer leading question bumped/smashed experiement 1
- pps shown a short film of a car accident
- asked to give an estimation of speed that the cars where travelling at
- changed the verb in each sentence when asking
- eg smashed and contacted
-‘how fast were the cars going when they smashed eachother?’ - pps that heard smashed said average 40.8mph and contacted average 34.0mph
what was the overall finding of the loftus and plamers leading question smashed/ bumped experiement 2
the more extreme verb the higher the average estimation of the cars speed
showing that leading questions did have an effect on eyewitness accuracy of recall
what is the loftus ans palmers misleading experiement 2
- new pps watched video of a car accident and were asked same questions to experiment 1
- this time they were then asked if they saw any broken glass
- there was no broken glass
- the more violent the verb the amount of people that said they saw glass increased
what were loftus and plamers findings
the phrasing of the question had clear effect on the witnesses answers and therefore misleading information can implant a lie into witnesses memories
evaluate these lab experiments
+ high internal validity- done in a lab to increase accuracy of results
- low ecological validity- environment is artificial which may cause demand characteritics as it cannot be generalised to a normal crime setting
- lack presence of other factors like stress or concern
what is yuille and cutshalls field experiment involving real like shooting
- man robbed a gun shot
- the robber was killed
- 21 witnesses gave an account on teh event
- 5 months after the incident the 13 gave consent to a research interview
- in this they were given leading questions based on loftus research
what was the real life shooting experiment findings
found most witnesses were highly accurate in their accounts and little change in the amount of accuracy of recall over the 5 month period
leading questions, misleading info ans post event discussion dont have an effect on real life witness acounts suggesting that memories in lab may suffer from low ecological validity
analysis of the real life shooting experiemnt (field)
+ real life crime
+ high ecological validity
- dont have contol of all the variables
