Factors in eye witness testimony Flashcards
What is eye witness testimony?
Evidence given in courts by someone who witnessed the crime or event
What factors can affect eye witness testimony?
Misleading information / Leading questions / Post-event discussion / anxiety
What was the Aim of Loftus and Palmer’s study 1 on leading questions?
To see if leading questions affect the accuracy of eye witness testimony
What was the method of Loftus and Palmer’s car crash study 1?
45 Ps were in 5 groups of nine and were asked how far a car was going in the video when it … another car - different verbs were inserted where the ellipsis is
What was the conclusion of Loftus and Palmer’s car crash study 1?
The verb used affects the accuracy of eyewitness testimony as smashed had a mean speed of 5 mph faster than the verb contacted
What was the Method of Loftus and Palmer’s 2nd study on eye witness testimony?
150 Ps were in three groups and asked to estimate the speed when the car smashed/hit (the verb being the independent variable), one week later they returned and were asked if they saw broken glass even though there wasn’t any
What were the findings of Loftus and Palmer’s second car crash study?
The verb used dramatically altered the testimony as the verb smashed yielded double as many people saying they saw glass - the memory of the original event was distorted by leading questions
Evaluation for Loftus and Palmer’s car study?
- Low ecological validity: you wouldn’t usually see a whole car crash on video so the results aren’t applicable to real life
- Good control of variable: as a lab study there is less likely to be extraneous variables thus increasing the validity
How can post event discussion affect eye witness testimony?
If other witnesses discuss post event it may distort the memory as others have different perspectives so may give misleading information
What was Gabbert’s study into Post event discussion?
Participants watched a video of a girl stealing a wallet and then were paired and told to discuss - they had in fact watched different videos where only one P had witnessed the theft. they then did a questionnaire testing their memory of the event
What were Gabbert’s findings on post-event discussion in the purse experiment?
60% said the girl had committed the crime despite not seeing it and as such this proves that post event discussion has an impact on eye witness testimony
Evaluation points for Gabbert’s purse study on post event discussion?
- Low ecological validity: the study lacks mundane realism and is therefore not applicable to real life
- High population validity as it was tested on young and old people meaning results can be generalised to the wider population
What experiment was conducted to test the effects of anxiety on eye witness testimony?
Reception study:
P’s were invited to a lab and whilst they were in the waiting room where they were exposed to one of two conditions
a) they heard a discussion next door and someone walk out with a pen
B) they heard an argument next door and someone walked out with a knife with blood on it
They were then asked out of 50 photographs to identify the man
What were the results of the reception study on anxiety in eye witness testimony?
Participants in the weapon condition exhibited weapon focus effect and so were less able to identify the man - thus anxiety towards a weapon reduces the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
What are evaluation points on The reception study, testing anxiety on eye witness testimony?
- Negative alternative study: a real-life store robbery occurred and witnesses were asked to return 5 months later and give testimony to the investigator no major details had changed and they avoided leading questions showing that anxiety in real-life scenarios doesn’t affect the accuracy of eye witness testimony
- Breaches ethical godliness withe deception and harm
