M - Accuracy of eyewitness testimony: Misleading information Flashcards
What are the 2 examples of misleading information?
Leading questions and post-event discussion.
How many examples of misleading information are there?
2
Who did a study on leading questions?
Loftus and Palmer (1974)
Describe the experiments done by Loftus and Palmer (1974) on leading questions
Experiment 1:
45 students were shown 7 films of different traumatic accidents. After each film the ppts were given a questionnaire which asked them to describe the accident and then answer a series of specific questions about it. There was one critical question: ‘About how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?’ One group of ppts was given this question. The other 4 groups were given the verbs smashed, collided, bumped or contacted in place of the word hit. This critical question was a leading question because it suggested the answer that a ppt might give.
Experiment 2:
The leading question may bias a ppts response or may actually cause information to be altered before it is stored. To this test, a new set of ppts was divided into 3 groups and shown a film of a car accident lasting 1 minute, and again asked questions about speed. The ppts were then asked to return 1 week later when they were asked a series of 10 questions about the accident, including another critical question, ‘Did you see any broken glass?’ There was no broken glass in the film but, presumably, those who thought the car was travelling faster might be more likely to think that there would be broken glass.
Describe the findings of the experiments done by Loftus and Palmer (1974) on leading questions
Exp 1: (Verb change only)
The more dramatic the word, the higher the mean speed estimate.
Exp 2: (Verb change and broken glass question)
The leading question changed the actual memory a ppt had for the event so the more dramatic the word, the more likely it was that they said that they saw the broken glass.
In what 2 ways does post-event discussion have an impact on memory?
Conformity effect and repeat interviewing can cause the memory of an event to be altered or contaminated.
What is the conformity effect in post-event discussion?
Co-witnesses may reach a consensus view of what actually happened.
Describe a study to provide evidence for the conformity effect in post-event discussion
Fiona Gabbert and colleagues (2003).
Ppts were in pairs where each partner watched a different video of the same event so that they each viewed unique items. Pairs in one condition were encouraged to discuss the event before each partner individually recalled the event they watched.
A very high number of witnesses (71%) who had discussed the event went on to mistakenly recall items acquired during the discussion.
How does repeat interviewing in post-event discussion have an effect on the memory of an event?
Each time an eyewitness is interviewed there is a possibility that comments from the interviewer will become incorporated into their recollection of events. It is also the case that an interviewer may use leading questions and thus alter the individual’s memory for events. This is especially the case when children are being interviewed about a crime (LaRooy et al., 2005).
What are the 3 stages that eyewitness memory goes through?
- The witness encodes into LTM details of the event and the persons involved. Encoding may be only partial and distorted, particularly as most crimes happen very quickly, frequently at night, and sometimes accompanied by rapid, complex and often violent action.
- The witness retains the information for a period of time. Memories may be lost or modified during retention (most forgetting takes place within the first few minutes of a retention interval) and other activities between encoding and retrieval may interfere with the memory itself.
- The witness retrieves the memory from storage. The presence or absence of appropriate retrieval cues or the nature of the questioning may significantly affect the accuracy of what is recalled.
How has the conformity effect of post-event discussion been seen in real-life?
The infamous Oklahoma bombing in 1995 - one witness claimed to have seen the murderer, Timothy McVeigh, with an accomplice. Initially no other witnesses could describe this person but later they too claimed to recall this person.
Eventually, the first witness realised that their recollection was wrong. The other two witnesses made the same mistake as the first confident witness unintentionally influenced them, leading them too to believe there was a second man.
Eyewitness testimony
The evidence provided in court by a person who witnessed a crime, with a view to identifying the perpetrator of the crime.
Leading question
A question that, either by its form or content, suggests to the witness what answer is desired or leads him or her to the desired answer.
Misleading information
Supplying information that may lead a witness’ memory for a crime to be altered.
Post-event discussion
A conversation between co-witnesses or an interviewer and an eyewitness after a crime has taken place which may contaminate a witness’ memory for the event.
