Factors affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony: Misleading information Flashcards
A01
What is eyewitness testimony(EWT)
The ability of ppl to remember details of an event such as accidents & crimes which they themselves have observed
Accuracy of EWT can be affected by factors such as anxiety & misleading information
What is misleading information
Incorrect info given to an eyewitneness after the event.
it can take forms such as leading questions & post event discussion
Research on leading Q -Palmer & loftus
Loftus & Palmer-arranged 45 P to watch clips of car accidents.(in a lab)
after watching were asked leading Qs
“ How fast were the cars travelling when they hit into eachother”
>there were 5 groups of p & each group was given a diff verb in LQ( smashed, collided ,bumbed ,hit or contracted)
Findings:
>found-The more extreme verb used the faster estimation of MPH the p guessed car was travelling
>contracted 31.8 estimate speed & Smashed 40.8
>suggests misleading info in form of leading Qs can influence recall of EWT
A01
Why do leading Questions affect EWT-response bias explanation
The response bias explanation
The response bias explantion suggests wording of Qs had no effect on p mems but influenced the way they answered- when p gets a leading qs using the word smashed, this encourages them to choose a higher speed estimate
Outline Loftus & Palmers follow up study
(leading Q)
Conducted 2nd experiment supporting substitution explanation, which proposes that wording of leading qs changes the p memory of the film clip
.
p shown car accident clip without broken glass
asked ‘how fast were cars travelling’ including verb either ‘hit or ‘smash’
after week completed questionnaire asked ‘did you see broken glass’
found twice likely to respond yes to ‘smash’ condition than ‘hit’ condition
shows that critical verb altered their memory
suggests affects of leading Q long lasting & change memories via substituion
What is post event discussion(PED)
Occurs when theres more than one eyewitness to an event.
Witnesses may discuss what they seen with co-witnesses or other ppl-can influence each witnesses recall of event
Outline Gabbert et als procedure on post event discussion
Gabbert et al explores effects of post event discussion
studied p in pairs
>each p watched a video of same crime scene, but filmed from diff points of view.
>Means each P could see elements in the event that others couldn’t
>Both p then discussed what they have seen before individually completing a test of recall
Outline Gabbert et als findings of post event discussion
Found-71% of p mistakenly recalled aspects of the event that they did not see in video but picked up on in discussion
provides evidence of memory conformity
A03
Misleading info -uses in criminal justice system
Strength
Misleading info has important practical issues in criminal justice system
Consequences of inaccurate EWT can be serious
Loftus believed that leading Q can have distortoring effect on memory -so police officers need to be careful on how they word Qs
Shows that psychologists can improve the way legal system works
Loftus p-watched film in lab-thus demand characteristics
Responded to demand characreristucs
loftus & palmer p watched film clip in a lab-different experience from witnessing real life event
P may responded to demand characteristics in the case of leading Q p may if just picked up on language used & give a answer that help researcher-interviewer bias
A03
Limitation of post event discussion-dangers can be reduced
Bodner et al-set up experiment similar to Gabbert p where they were specifically discouraged to share info in testimony.
Found that p shared less info gained from other witness.
suggests if warned about dangers of post event discussion-effects can be reduced
A03
Artificial stimuli in Gabbert & loftus & palmer study
Limitation
Loftus & Palmer p watched filmed clips of car accidents in lab-diff experience from watching a real accident as such clips lack the stress of real accident -use of artifical tasks tell us little about how LQ affect p in real accidents
The artificial tasks & stimuli used Loftus &Palmer, alongside Gabbert,
reduces ecological validity of findings & mundane realism of methodology.
