memory: eyewitness testimony Flashcards
misleading info, anxiety, the cognitive interview
misleading information: leading questions - name of study
Loftus and Palmer (1974)
misleading information: leading questions: Loftus and Palmer (1974) - procedure
participants watched a film clip of a car accident then gave them leading questions about it, among others, all participants were asked ‘how fast were the cars going when they ____ each other’ - the verb depended on the condition they were in:
- ‘hit’
-‘contacted’
-‘bumped’
-‘collided’
-‘smashed’
misleading information: leading questions: Loftus and Palmer (1974) - findings
mean estimated speed for each group:
‘hit’ - 34 mph
‘contacted’ - 31.8 mph
‘bumped’ - 38.1 mph
‘collided’ - 39.3 mph
‘smashed’ - 40.5 mph
misleading information: leading questions - what is response-bias explanation
suggests the wording of the question has no effect on the participants memories, but only influences how they answer
- when a participant gets a question with the verb ‘smashed’ this encourages them to estimate higher
misleading information: leading questions - what is substitution explanation
the wording of a leading questions changes the participants memory of the incident
misleading information: what is post-event discussion
when co-witnesses to a crime discuss it with each other, their eyewitness testimony’s may become contaminated. - because they combine (mis)info from other witnesses with their own memories
misleading information: post event discussion - what is the study on this topic
Fiona Gabbert and colleagues (2003)
misleading information: post-event discussion: Fiona Gabbert (2003) - procedure
studied the participants in pairs.
each participant watched a video of the same crime, but filmed from different POVs, so some could see certain elements that others couldn’t.
both participants then discussed it and individually recalled it.
misleading information: post-event discussion: Fiona Gabbert (2003) - findings
71% of participants mistakenly recalled aspects of the event they didn’t see but picked up in discussion.
In the control group, where there was no discussion, there was 0%
misleading information: post-event discussion: Fiona Gabbert (2003) - conclusions
witnesses often go along with each other
- to gain social approval
- or because they believe the other witnesses are right and they are wrong
this phenomenon is called memory conformity
misleading information: evaluation - real-life applications
very practical for uses in the real world, where the consequences of inaccurate eyewitness testimony can be severe.
therefore the research can be used to improve the legal system e.g. the cognitive interview
misleading information: Evaluation: Loftus and Palmer (1974) - artificial tasks
watching a film clip is very different to witnessing a real accident, especially because it lacks the stress. - some evidence that emotion affects memory
- Is a limitation because the findings of studies that use artificial tasks may not be applicable to real accidents
misleading information: evaluation - individual differences
some evidence suggests older people give less accurate eyewitness testimony than young people.
Anastasia and Rhodes (2006) found people in age groups 18-25 and 35-45 were more accurate than people aged 55-78. - but all groups were more accurate when identifying people their own age (age bias)
anxiety: what is anxiety
a state of emotional and physical arousal, these emotions could be worry, fear, feelings of tension
anxiety: negative effects on recall - explain why
the physiological arousal anxiety creates prevents us from paying attention to important cues, so recall is worse
anxiety: negative effects on recall - name of study and aim
Johnson and Scott (1976) researched the effect of weapons (which create anxiety) on the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
anxiety: negative effects on recall: Johnson and Scott (1976) - procedure
told participants they were taking part in a lab study. when they were in a waiting room, they overheard an argument in the next room, following this a man walked out.
- ‘low anxiety’ condition - man walked past them with an exploded pen
- ‘high anxiety’ condition - sound of breaking glass, then man walked past them with a paper knife covered in blood
anxiety: negative effects on recall: Johnson and Scott (1976) - findings
participants then picked out the man from a set of 50 photos
49% from the low anxiety condition identified him, 30% from the high anxiety condition
The tunnel theory argues the witnesses attention narrows to focus on the weapon.
anxiety: positive effects on recall: Explain why
anxiety can trigger the fight-or-flight response which causes the body to go into a state of alertness and improves our memory because we become more aware of cues
anxiety: positive effects on recall: name study
Yuille and Cutshall (1986)
anxiety: positive effects on recall: Yuille and Cutshall (1986) - procedure
conducted a study of a real-life shooting in a gun shop where the owner shot a thief dead in front of 21 witnesses - 13 took part in the study.
Held interviews 4-5 months after the crime and compared them to the original police interview. witnesses were asked to rate how stressed they felt at the interview on a 7 point scale and asked if they had any emotional problems since the crime.
anxiety: positive effects on recall: Yuille and Cutshaw (1986) - findings
accuracy was determined by the number of details in each account.
the witnesses were very accurate in their accounts and there was little change.
participants who reported the highest levels of stress were more accurate - 88% correct compared to 75% for less stressed group.
anxiety: explaining the contradictory findings
according to Yerkes and Dodson (1908) the relationship between emotional arousal and performance looks like a ‘∩’
Deffenbacher (1983) applied this to EWT,
anxiety: evaluation - ethical issues
creating anxiety in participants is risky because it can be potentially unethical as it may cause psychological harm.
this is why real-life studies are so beneficial because researchers don’t have to create the situations
