memory 7 Flashcards
What is meant by the term misleading information?
Incorrect information given to the witness, usually after the event. It can take many forms, such an leading questions or post-event discussion.
What is meant by the term leading question?
A questions that suggests, due to the way it is phrased, a specific answer. E.g. Was the man holding the knife in his left hand?
Briefly outline one study that has investigated leading questions as a factor affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.
Loftus and Palmer - showed ppts a video of a car crash, then asked participants about the speed of the cars, using increasingly aggressive verbs to describe the crash (bumped, hit, smashed etc). Found that the more aggressive the verb, the faster the speed was estimated. Leading questions have an impact on recall.
Outline 2 explanations for leading questions as a factor affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.
The response bias explanation. The wording has no effect on the memory, but influences how the witness decides to answer. The substitution bias explanation. The wording actually leads to the memory being altered.
Briefly outline one study that has investigated post-event discussion as a factor affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.
Gabbert et al. gave participant pairs a video of a crime to watch. Both partners saw the crime from different angles (they each saw aspects the other did not). Afterwards ppts were allowed to discuss the clip and the research found that 71% of ppts recalled events that they had not seen. Witnesses go along with each other → memory conformity.
Explain why it might be better to carry out research into eyewitness testimony in the real world, rather than in a laboratory.
Lab studies cannot replicate the stress people would feel if being a witness in the real world. Such emotions can have an effect on memory and cannot be replicated effectively in a lab setting. Conducting studies in a lab tells us nothing about eyewitness testimony in real life because the setting and materials are artificial.
Outline some research into individual differences in EWT.
Factors such as age can affect the recall eyewitnesses. Anastasi and Rhodes found that younger age groups were more accurate in their recall than older age groups. Additionally the study found that people are always better at recognising people their own age. Studies often use younger people as the target and so some age groups may appear less accurate, when in fact they are not.
A strength of research into EWT is that is has useful real world applications - explain this.
Consequences of inaccurate EWT in the real world can be devastating. Research on this has lead to police officers changing their questioning technique in order to avoid the distorting effect of misleading information. Research into this area can help to improve the legal system and increase the chances of eye-witnesses giving sound evidence.
Give two reasons why lab research into EWT may be inaccurate.
Lack of consequences. PPTs usually know they are taking part in a study. They know that, no matter how serious or horrific the incident, the answers they give will not have any significant effects. This is not the case in real life → leading questions may have less of an effect when the consequences are more serious. Demand Characteristics. Zaragosa and McGloskey (1989) argue that answers given in lab studies of EWT are largely down to demand characteristics. PPTs do not want to let the researcher down (or want to influence the results) and so lie (if they do not know the answer). There is a danger that participants will not behave how we want them to, i.e. naturally. When this happens, it decreases the validity of research studies because they are no longer measuring the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.
