Leading Questions Flashcards
AO3 strength
A strength of the research into the affects of leading questions on the accuracy of EWT is that is has practical applications the principles of the theory that leading questions can influence the accuracy of the EWT has led to improvements in the criminal justice system and the development of the cognitive interview. The cognitive interview avoids the use of leading questions and uses such variety of techniques to increase the accuracy of EWT e.g it uses open questions such as recall everything about the event to trigger as many details about the event as possible and increases the accuracy of EWT without it being affected by misleading information therefore the research into the effects of leading questions on the accuracy of EWT is an important part of applied psychology because it could lead to more accurate testimonies and improve the lives of people affected by crime
AO3
However a criticism of the research into the effects of leading questions on the accuracy of EWT is that is lacks mundane realism this is because loftus and Palmers research uses the artificial task of watching a video of a car crash therefore it is difficult to generalise the findings of the research that leading questions affect the accuracy of EWT as Foster et al has found they eyewitness of a real event understand the important consequences of giving inaccurate information however participants watching a video do no have the same motivation to give accurate testimonies therefore lowering the external validity of the research investigating the influence of leading questions on the accuracy of EWT
