Faors Affecting Eyewitness Testimony Flashcards
What are the factors affecting EWT
Leading questions
Post event discussion
Anxiety
What are leading questions?
A questions which (because the way it’s phrased) suggests a certain answer
What’s post event discussion?
It occurs when there’s more than 1 witness to an event and hey all discuss what they have seen, influencing the accuracy of one another’s recall
Who researched about leading questions?
Loftus and palmer
What did loftus and palmer conduct to find out about leading questions?
45 American students watched video of car crash and asked questions about it
MAIN QUESTION: about how fast were the cars going when they smashed/collided/bumped/hit/contacted each other?
Why did loftus and palmer find to their research?
Average estimated speed was affected by the word used in the questions (e.g. contacted = 31.8mph and smashed = 40.5 mph)
Why did this happen? What did loftus and palmer suggest were the 2 reasons to their results?
RESPONSE BIAS: wording of question influenced how participant chose to answer
SUBSTITUTION: wording of questions changed the participants memory of event
What did loftus and palmer do to find out which explanation to their study was correct?
Conducted a second study
what did l and p second study involve?
150 American students followed a similar procedure to experiment 1 (3 conditions now: smashed/hit/control)
1 week later participants returned and asked series of questions
MAIN QUESTION: did you see any broken glass?
What did L and P conclude from their second study?
32% of participants said they saw the glass in the smashed condition and 14% said they saw the glass in the hit condition
12% said they saw glass in the control group
What was Loftus and palmers aim of the study?
To test whether language used in EWT can alter memory
What did gabbert et al study involve?
60 adults and 60 students from aberdeen watched video of girl stealing money from wallet either individually or in pairs
Participants in pairs were told they has seen the same video but actually saw different
Only 1 of participants could actually see girl stealing
Participants in pairs were given opportunity to discuss what they had seen before completing a questionnaire to test recall (individually)
What did gabbert et al find from her study?
In pairs incorrect recall was 71% compared to 0% in control group
In pairs 60% said girl was guilty even though some didn’t see this in the video
What did gabbert et al conclude from her study?
Witnesses go along with each-other to win social approval or because they genuinely believe other witnesses are correct (memory conformity)
Who investigated the effect of weapons on recall accuracy?
Johnson and scott
What did Johnson and Scott’s study involve?
They asked particpants to take part in experiment
Whilst waiting participants ‘overheard’ a heated argument next door (2 conditions):
- low anxiety: man walked through waiting area carrying a pen and greasy hands
- high anxiety: heard sound of breaking glass during the arguments. Man walked through waiting area with a knife and covered in blood
Particpants asked to pick the man out from 50 photos:
What did Johnson’s and Scott conclude from this study?
Low anxiety condition - 49% correct
High anxiety condition - 33% correct
What did Johnson and Scott study?
How anxiety can have a negative affect on recall
What did yuille and cutshall study?
How anxiety can have a positive effect on recall
What as yuille and cutshall aim?
Investigate real life effect of anxiety on accuracy of recall
What did yuille and cutshall study involve?
Interviewed 13 witnesses to a crime where thief was shot dead by shop owner
Interviews took place 4-5 months after event and compared to police interviews conducted at the time of the shooting
Also asked how stressed the felt at the time of the incident
What did yuille and cutshall find from their study?
Accuracy was generally good - some minor inaccuracies
Reporting highest stress we’re more accurate (88%) than those reporting lower stress (75%)
How can anxiety be positive and negative?
Deffenbacher applied to the Yerkes-Dodson law to EWT
Suggests there’s an optimum level of arousal in order to produce accurate recall (inverted u theory)
