Factors affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony

Question 1

What are the 2 factors that can affect eyewitness testimony?

Answer 1

Misleading information & anxiety

Question 2

What are the 2 types of misleading information that could affect eyewitness testimony?

Answer 2

Leading questions & post-event discussion

Question 3

What are leading questions?

Answer 3

Any question in which, because of the way it is phrased, suggests a certain answer

Question 4

Which key study supports leading questions?

Answer 4

Loftus & Palmer (1974)

Question 5

What verbs did Loftus & Palmer use in their leading question?

Answer 5

smashed, contact, hit, bumped, collided

Question 6

What did Lotus & Palmer find?

Answer 6

They found that the estimated speed was affected by the verb used so the accuracy of eyewitness testimony is affected by leading questions.

Question 7

What explanations did Loftus & Palmer offer for why leading questions affect EWT?

Answer 7

Response-bias factors or the memory representation is actually altered

Question 8

What was different about Loftus & Palmers 2nd study?

Answer 8

Only used 2 verbs: Smashed or Hit
Asked them if they had seen broken glass (there was no broken glass)

Question 9

What is post event discussion?

Answer 9

When witnesses discuss the details of a crime of accident, following an incident

Question 10

Who’s research supports post-event discussion?

Answer 10

Gabbert et al (2003)

Question 11

Wha did Gabbert et al (2003) find about post-event discussion?

Answer 11

That 71% of participants mistakenly recalled aspects of the event that they did not see in the video but had picked up in the discussion. In the control group where there was no discussion – this was 0%.

Question 12

What are the strengths of misleading information?

Answer 12

Practical real-world use - e.g., police interviews

Question 13

What are the limitations of misleading information?

Answer 13

Artificial tasks lacking mundane realism
Individual differences may have been confounding
Demand characteristics reduce validity
Participants may act differently if situation was real

Question 14

What sort of effects can anxiety have on recall?

Answer 14

Positive and negative

Question 15

How can anxiety have a negative effect?

Answer 15

Anxiety creates physiological arousal in the body which prevents us paying attention to important cues, so recall is worse

Question 16

Which research supports anxiety having a negative effect?

Answer 16

Johnson & Scott (1976)

Question 17

What did Johnson & Scott (1976) find?

Answer 17

In the low anxiety condition: 49% were able to correctly identify the man carrying the pen with the grease on his hands.
In the high anxiety condition: 33% were able to correctly identify the man carrying the bloody knife

Question 18

What is the weapon focus effect?

Answer 18

The tunnel theory of memory argues that a witness’ attention narrows to focus on a weapon, because it is a source of anxiety

Question 19

How can anxiety have a positive effect?

Answer 19

The stress of witnessing a crime or accident creates anxiety through physiological arousal within the body. The fight- or-flight response is triggered which increases our alertness and improves our memory for the event because we become more aware of cues in the situation.

Question 20

Which research supports anxiety having a positive effect?

Answer 20

Yuille & Cutshall (1986)

Question 21

What did Yuille & Cutshall (1986) find?

Answer 21

Those participants who reported the highest levels of stress were most accurate i.e. 88% compared to 75% for the less stressed group

Question 22

How can we explain the contradictory findings that anxiety can have both a positive and negative effect?

Answer 22

Yerkes-dodson law

Question 23

What limitations are there for anxiety’s effect on eye-witness testimony?

Answer 23

Weapon focus effect is due to unusualness rather than anxiety/threat (Pickel, 1998)
Field studies (Yuille & Cutshall) lack control
Potential ethical issues
Inverted U is too simplistic
Demand characteristics