Lesson 9 - EWT - Misleading Information

Question 1

What is Eye Witness Testimony

Answer 1

How people remember the details of events that they have observed eg. crimes. Accuracy of their recall can be influenced by things like anxiety levels and misleading information.

Question 2

What are Leading Questions

Answer 2

A question that is written in a way that it suggests a certain answer for the person answering it.

Question 3

Give an example of a leading question…

Answer 3

Which hand was the knife in?

Question 4

Explain 1974 Loftus and Palmer study…

Answer 4

Aim - to investigate the effects of different types of question on responses to speeds of crashing cars.
Method - participants watched film clips of car accidents and gave questions about the accident. P’s were asked a ‘critical question’ about how fast the cars were going when they ‘hit’ each other (this is a leaning question). Five groups were given different verbs “hit, contacted, bumped, collided, smashed”.
Results/conclusion - findings were that the leading question resulted in bias (31.8 mph/contacted, 40.5mph/smashed).

Question 5

What are the two reasons why leading questions work

Answer 5

1. Response Bias - wording has no real effect on their memory, but just influences how they decide to answer. Encourages change in answer.
2. Substitution - wording changes memory.

Question 6

What is PED

Answer 6

Post Event Discussion - is when one or more witnesses discuss the event to other witnesses, or just other people. This may influence the witnesses recalling of the event.

Question 7

Explain study on Post Event Discussion…

Answer 7

• Gabbert et al (2003).
• Participants were studied in pairs, they watched the small crime from different angles, which meant p’s saw different elements. They then discusses the event prior to recall.
• Findings were that 71% of participants mistakenly recalled aspects they did not see but picked up in discussion. Concluded witnesses go along with one another.

Question 8

Strength of misleading information and its research…

Answer 8

Important practical uses in the criminal justice system - Loftus believes that leading questions can have a distorting effect on memory and so police officers need to be very careful about how they phrase their questions during interviews. Psychologist are sometimes asked to act as expert witnesses in court, this shows that psychologists can help to improve the way the legal system works, eg. helping innocent people from being convicted based off unreliable EWT. APPLICATION

Question 9

Limitations of misleading information and its research…

Answer 9

1. Practical application of EWT may be affected by issues with research. Eg. Loftus and Palmer watched films in labs, not real life/artificial = so less stressful. This suggests researchers (Loftus) are too pessimistic about effects of misleading information, EWT may be more dependable than studies suggest.
2. EWT is more accurate for some aspects of an event than for others. Eg. Sutherland and Hayne showed video clips to participants. When p’s were asked misleading questions, their recall was more accurate for central detail than peripheral ones. Suggests that the original memories for central details survived and weren’t distorted, an outcome that is not predicted by the substitution explanation.