factors of eyewitness testimony Flashcards
what is eyewitness testimony?
ability of people to remember details of events
e.g. accidents and crimes, which they themselves have observed
what are the 3 factors that can affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimony?
misleading information
leading questions
anxiety
what is misleading information?
this is when incorrect information is given to the eyewitness after the event (post event information)
what are examples of misleading information?
leading questions
post-event discussion between co-witnesses/other people may influence the accuracy of eye witness recall
what are leading questions?
a question which, because of the way its phrased, suggest a certain answer
what is an example of leading questions?
“was the knife in the accused’s left hand?” this suggests that the answer is ‘left hand’
what is Lofus and Palmer (1974) procedure of their research into leading questions?
they got participants (students) to watch film clips of car accidents- then gave questions about it
in the critical question (a leading question) participants were asked to describe how fast the cars were travelling: “about how had were the cars going when they hit each other?”
this is a leading question as the word ‘hit’ suggests that the car was travelling quite fast
5 groups of participants were given a different verb in the critical question- hit, contacted, bumped, collided, smashed
what is Lofus and Palmer (1974) findings of their research Into leading questions?
the mean estimated speed was calculated for each participant group
the verb, contacted, resulted in a mean estimated speed of 31.8 mph, perhaps because the verb ‘contacted’ lacks the impression of a high speed collision occurring
the verb, smashed, resulted in a mean estimated speed of 40.5 mph
the leading question biased the eyewitness recall go an event
what are the two reasons that affect eyewitness testimony?
response-bias explanation
substitution explanation
what is response-bias explanation?
it is when the wording of the questions has no real effect on the participants memories, but just influences on how they decide to answer.
when a participant gets a leading question using the word ‘smashed’, this encourages them to choose a higher speed estimation
what is the substitution explanation?
Lofus and Palmer (1974) did a second experiment that supported this explanation. the wording of a leading question changes the participants memory of the film clip. participants who originally heard ‘smashed’ were later more likely to report seeing broken glass (there as none) than those who heard ‘hit’. the critical verb altered their memory of the incident.
