Factors Affecting EWT - Misleading Information Flashcards
Who researched leading question?
Loftus and Palmer in 1974
Aim of leading questions?
To test the hypothesis that leading questions can distort eye witness testimony
Method to test for leading question?
Arranged participants to watch clips of car accidents and try to estimate the speed of the car.
Then participants were asked questions about the car accident but for each question for each participant the verb was changed.
Hit , smashed , collided , bumped , contacted .
What was the results of the leading question research?
When asked about the speed of cars being contacted the mean estimated speed was 31.8 mph
When asked about the speed of cars being smashed the mean estimated speed was 40.5
What is the conclusion about leading questions?
The difference in the way a question is asked can change the way a persons recall for eye witness testimony.
Explain the loftus and palmer broken glass theory?
Wording of the leading question changes the substitution explanation
Participants who were asked “what speed was the car going when it smashed “ also reported that glass was broken even though there wasn’t any glass broken.
This shows that memory and eyewitness accounts can easily be distorted with leading questions.
Who researched post event discussion on misleading information?
Gabbert et al in 2003
What was the aim of the post event discussion?
To see if post event discussion affects eye witness testimony
What was the method for post event discussion
Participants were in pairs who watched a video of the same crime from different perspectives.
1 person from each pair went to go and discuss what the had seen
And 1 person from the pair did not discuss anything
What are the results of the post event discussion?
Participants who had a discussion - 71% of them had mistakenly recalled what they had not seen but what they had heard from the discussion.
In the control group 0% of people had recalled something they weren’t shown
