factors affecting eyewitness testimony: misleading information evaluation Flashcards
what does it mean when we say that the research into misleading info has useful real-world application
(Loftus and Palmer)
a great strength of all research is that it had hugely important practical uses in the real world, where the consequences of inaccurate EWT can be very serious indeed
e.g. Loftus (1975) believes that leading questions can have such a distorting effect on memory that police officers need to be very careful about how they phrase their questions when interviewing eyewitnesses
Research into EWT is one area in which psychologists believe they can make an important positive difference to the lives of real people, for instance by improving the way the legal system works and by appearing in court trials as expert witnesses
what does it mean when we say that the tasks are artificial
Loftus and Palmer
A real limitation of Loftus and Palmer’s study is that their participants watched film clips of car accidents.
This is a very different experience from witnessing a real accident, mainly because such clips lack the stress of real accident
There is some evidence that emotions can have an influence an memory
This is a limitation because studies that use such artificial tasks may tell us very little about how leading questions affect EWT in cases of real accidents or crimes.
It could even be that researchers such as Loftus are too pessimistic about the accuracy of EWT - may be more reliable than many studies suggest
what does it mean when we say that Gabbert et al’s study had mundane evaluation
Gabbert’s research lacked mundane realism
The task involved watching a video of a crime where money was stolen from a wallet - participants probably guessed that they were going to be asked about the video
In everyday life you do not know that you are going to be a witness so you may not be as aware of what is going on
Also, the emotion that might be present during a real crime such as a robbery will not be there when watching a video
This reduces the validity of this supporting evidence
why is the level of control in Gabbert’s experiment a strength
Gabbert’s study had a great deal of control
It was a lab experiment and therefore because of the control of extraneous variables, we know that the only thing impacting on the DV was the IV
Thus means hat verb in a question impacts on the rating of speed and the memory of glass
Therefore, the results have greater internal validity
