Factors affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony: Misleading information

Question 1

What is a leading question?

Answer 1

A question which, due to its phrasing, suggests a certain answer

Question 2

Describe the research on leading questions

Answer 2

• Loftus and Palmer (1974) arranged for 45 participants to watch film clips of a car accident and asked a critical question, “how fast was the car going when they hit eachother”.
• There were five groups and each group was given a different verb such as contacted, bumped

Question 3

What were the findings of Loftus and Palmer?

Answer 3

• the mean speed was calcuated for each group
• for contacted, the speed was 31.8 mph and for smashed it was 40.5 mph
• this shows phrasing influences peoples answers of a question

Question 4

Describe research on post - event discussion

Answer 4

• Gabbert et al studied participants in pairs. each participant studied the video from different angles of the same crime.
• they then discussed what they had seen together

Question 5

What were the findings of Gabberts research

Answer 5

• 71% of participants mistakenly recalled aspects that they didn’t see compared to 0% in a control group

Question 6

why does post - discussion affect EWT

Answer 6

Memory contamination, when co witnesses discuss events, they become altered and distorted.
- also, memory conformity

Question 7

What is a strength of misleading information

Answer 7

• RWA : It has practical uses in the criminal justice system and can help prevent the distortion of eye witnesses through police officer training to prevent post-event discussion and leading questions. However, EWT research may be affected by issues as watching video clips of a crime is different from expierencing one.

Question 8

What are two limitations of MI

Answer 8

1. Evidence agaisn’t substitution: Sutherland and Hayne repeated Loftus and Palmers research and showed leading questions helped the accuracy of participants recall and helped them focus on central features of an event
2. Skagerberg and Wright showed participants flim clips of two different versions. In one version a mugger had brown hair whereas in another they had light brown. They then discussed and many reported a blend of colours showing that memory is disorted through contamination and not memory conformity