Memory - Eye Witness Testimony

Question 1

Schema (1932 ) Bartlek

Answer 1

Memories are not accurate snapshots of events, but are reconstructions.

Question 2

Schema

Answer 2

Internal, mental representations of the world, they cause us to interpret sensory info in a pre set manner.
- they affect our reliability of EWT - witnesses aren’t just recalling facts as they happened, they are reconstructing mems

Question 3

War of the ghosts (1932)

Answer 3

• Bartlett - when western, cultural ppts were told this story, it didn’t make sense from a cultural viewpoint.
• upon recall, he found the story was distorted to fit a western cultural viewpoint, demonstrating how mems can be affected by viewpoint

Question 4

Misleading info can be caused by

Answer 4

• leading questions
• post event discussion

Question 5

Lotus and palmer 1974 aims and method

Answer 5

Aim: to investigate how info provided to a witness after an event will influence their memory of that event.
Method : 2 lab experiments
- independent measures design
- IV= the verb used
-DV- the estimate of speed and whether the ppts saw broken glass.

Question 6

A03 - how realistic were the studies

Answer 6

• not very realistic as they were conducted on a lab setting (lacks ecological validity)
• for example in real life - there wld be the element of surprise, or you might be paying less attention
• in real life- you may not be asked the questions until some time later ( post- event discussion)

Question 7

A03- the ppts

Answer 7

They were all students
- may not be representative of the general population due to :
- age
- driving experience
-educational experience

Question 8

A03- usefulness

Answer 8

This study has many applications in real life :
-police questioning witnesses
- courtroom witness rules

Question 9

A03 - the video

Answer 9

Shown on a video, the ppts may show less emotion as they know its not real
- or may be less affected / less emotion
- they were prepared for what they were going to watch

Question 10

A03- other issues

Answer 10

• how easy is it to estimate speed? ( may be easier for some groups than other eg taxi drivers)
• the driver of the car is not mentioned/shown in the study (our schema can affect this influence )

Question 11

Gabbert 2003- post event discussion
Study/ method

Answer 11

• ppts watched a video of a crime - filmed from different viewpoints
• so each ppts. Could see elements of the event that others could not
• in one group ppts then discussed what they had seen before comparing recall, the other group did not

Question 12

Gabbert 2003- conclusions

Answer 12

71% of ppts mistakenly recalled aspects of the event they did not see, but picked up in discussion
- control group = 0%
- conc, witnesses often go along with each other to win SOCIAL APPROVAL or they believe that others may be right, and they may be wrong
—> MEMORY CONFORMITY

Question 13

A03- misleading info - supporting evidence

Answer 13

• L + P suggest EWT in real life is generally inaccurate, and hence unreliable
• however foster 1994 found if ppts bought they were watching a real life robbery , that would influence the trial, their identification of the robber was vastly more accurate
• however, there is a lack of ecological validity !

Question 14

A03- misleading info- real life app

Answer 14

EWT research is important to ensure innocent people are not convicted on the bases of faulty EWT

Question 15

A03- individual differences - misleading info

Answer 15

A number of studies have found that compared to younger subjects, elderly ppl have difficulty remembering the source of their info, therefore re more prone to the effect of misleading inf.
- important for assessing the reliability of EWT