Factors Affecting Eye Witness Restimony : Misleading Information Flashcards
What’s a issue for eye witness testimony
When asked a question the wording of the question may lead you to give a certain
Answer
What is the procedure on research for leading questions
Loftus and palmer
45 participants to watch clip of car accident
Asked questions about accident
Critical question asked how fast car was driving
Have group of five participants given different verbs
Hit,contacted,bump , collide , smash
What were the findings on loftus and palmer research
Findings The mean estimated speed was calculated for each participant group. The verb contacted resulted in a mean estimated speed of 31.8 mph. For the verb smashed, the mean was 40.5 mph (full findings on facing page). The leading question biased the eyewitnesss recall of an event.
Why do leading questions affect EWT
Wording of question has no affect but the influences on how they deceive to answer it .
What was the second e pertinent loftus and palmer conducted was about
Substitution explanation proposes the wording of leading question change’s participants memory of film clip
What was the research to post event discussion
Eyewitness to crime may sometimes discuss their experience and memories with each other
What was the procedure of research on post event discussion
Procedure Fiona Gabbert et al. (2003)
- studied participants in pairs. Each participant watched a video of the same crime, but filmed from different points of view. This meant that each participant could see tilents in the event that the other could not.
- For example, only one of the participants could see the title of a book being carried by a young woman.
Both participants then discussed what they had seen before individually completing a test of recall.
What were the findings on post event discussion
Findings The researchers found that 72% of the participants mistakenly recalled aspects of the event that they did not see in the video but had picked up in the discussion. The corresponding figure in a control group, where there was no discussion, was 0%. This was evidence of memory conformity.
Why does post event discussion affect EWT
1) memory contamination - When co-witnesses to a crime discuss it with each other, their eyewitness testimonies may become altered or distorted. This is because they combine (mis)information from other witnesses with their
2) memory conformity - Gabbert et al. concluded that witnesses often go along with each other, either to win social approval or because they believe the other witnesses are right and they are wrong. Unlike with memory contamination, the actual memory is
