MEMORY - Accuracy of Eye Witness Testimony: Misleading Information Flashcards
What is an Eye Witness Testimony?
an account given by people of an event they have witnessed
What is Misleading Information in reference to the Eye Witness Testimony?
incorrect information given to the eyewitness after the event mainly as a result of post-event discussion.
What is a Leading Question?
a question which suggests to the witness what answer is desired, or leads an individual to give a certain answer because of the way it was phrased
Loftus and Palmer’s first study in 1974
- 45 students were shown a video of a car crash
- One group of participants were asked, ‘How fast were the cars going when they hit each other?’
- Other participants were asked the same question but the verb was changed with ‘smashed’, ‘bumped’, ‘collided’, or ‘contacted’.
- The verb ‘contacted’ resulted in the lowest mean speed estimated at 31.8mph
- The verb ‘smashed’ resulted in the highest mean speed estimated at 40.5mph
- Some of the verbs used were leading, encouraging the participants to believe the car was going faster than they really were.
Loftus and Palmer’s second study in 1974
- Carried out a study to see if the wording of a leading question actually changes the participants memory of the clip of a car crash
- Those who heard the verb ‘smashed’ used were more likely to report seeing broken glass (when there was not any present) than those who heard the word ‘hit’
- The critical verb altered their memories of the clip
Loftus and Zanni study 1975
- Participants were shown a video of a car accident
- When they were asked if they had seen ‘a’ broken headlight, 7% of pps said yes
- When they were asked if they had seen ‘the’ broken headlight, 17% of pps said yes
- ‘The’ was a leading word as it implied there was in fact a broken headlight and this affected participant memory
What is Post-Event Discussion in the context of Eye Witness Testimony?
when witnesses to an event discuss what they have experienced after the event
How does Post-Event Discussion affect the accuracy of the Eye-Witness Testimony?
- Memory contamination: witnesses MIX information from other witnesses into their own memories
- Memory conformity: witnesses pick up information from someone else’s EWT because they want social approval or because they believe other witnesses are right.
Gabbert et al study 2003
- 60 students from Uni of Aberdeen and 60 older adults
- Pps watched a video of a girl stealing money from a wallet
- They were tested either individually (control group) or in pairs (co-witness group)
- Pps in the co-witness groups were told they watched the same video however in reality they saw different perspectives of the same crime any only one individual saw the girl steal
- Co-witness groups then discussed the crime together and then all pps completed a questionnaire, testing their memory of the event.
- 71% of witnesses in the co-witness group recalled information they had not actually seen
- 60% said the girl was guilty, even though they had not seen the girl commit a crime.
Strengths of research into the effects of misleading information on EWT
- Research was mostly well controlled lab studies: extraneous variable are easy to control making it easier to make a conclusion about the effect of misleading information and studies can be easily replicated to test reliability (Loftus and Palmer’s study)
- Research has important applications to real life: As leading questions can affect witness memory, the police must be very careful in how they phrase questions when interviewing witnesses and where possible, co-witnesses should be prohibited from discussing their testimony.
Weaknesses of lab studies into EWT
In lab studies of EWT, there is a risk of demand characteristics
