Memory - Eyewitness Testimony & Misleading Questions

Question 1

What is misleading information?

Answer 1

Incorrect information given to an eyewitness usually after the event usually in the form of leading questions & post event discussion

Question 2

What is a leading question & how does it affect eyewitness testimony?

Answer 2

A question which is phrased in a way that suggests a certain answer from the eyewitness which can cause them to answer inaccurately

Question 3

What is post event discussion & how does it affect eyewitness testimony?

Answer 3

When eyewitnesses discuss information with each other after the event has taken place. It can affect accurate recall of the event

Question 4

Who did research into leading questions?

Answer 4

Loftus & Palmer

Question 5

What was the aim of Loftus & Palmer’s experiment?

Answer 5

To assess the extent to which participants’ estimates of the speed of cars involved in accidents witnessed on video could be influenced by misleading questions

Question 6

What was the procedure of experiment 1?

Answer 6

45 university students shown 7 video clips of car crashes
After each clip they were asked to write an account of what they could recall & asked a key question about the speed of the cars with 5 conditions (9 participants in each) with each condition being asked a different verb
Participants estimations of the speed were then recorded

Question 7

What was the key question & different verbs asked in each?

Answer 7

“About how fast were the cars going when they ‘contacted/hit/bumped/collided/smashed’ hit each other?”

Question 8

What were the findings of experiment 1?

Answer 8

As the intensity of the verb used in the key question increased so did the estimated speed of the cars

Question 9

What was the procedure of experiment 2?

Answer 9

150 students viewed a video of a car crash
50 asked key question with the verb ‘smashed’
50 asked key question with the verb ‘hit’
Control group (50) asked no question
1 week later they were question about their memory of the event & they were being asked ‘did you see any broken glass?’
Number of participants recalling broken glass was recorded

Question 10

What were the findings of experiment 2?

Answer 10

Participants were 2x as likely in the smashed condition to recall the false memory of broken glass

Question 11

What was the conclusion for experiment 1?

Answer 11

Misleading information in the form of leading questions can affect memory recall of eyewitnesses

Question 12

What was the conclusion for experiment 2?

Answer 12

Misleading information in the form of post event information can affect memory recall of eyewitnesses

Question 13

What are some limitations of Loftus & Palmer’s experiments?

Answer 13

Lab experiment -> artificial tasks (lack of generalisability)
Witnessing car crashes can have an emotional affect then they would recall differently
Demand characteristics -> participants may have been recalling what they thought the researchers wanted to hear

Question 14

Who did an experiment into post event discussion?

Answer 14

Gabbert et al

Question 15

What is the procedure of Gabbert’s experiment?

Answer 15

Participants studied in pairs & each participant watched a video of the same crime but filmed from different POVS. Both participants then discussed what they had seen before individually completing a test of recall

Question 16

What were the findings for Gabbert’s experiment?

Answer 16

71% of participants mistakenly recalled events in the video they weren’t shown but had picked up in discussion
0% did in the control discussion

Question 17

What was the conclusion of Gabbert’s experiment?

Answer 17

Witnesses often go along with eachother either to win social approval or because they believe the others are right & they are wrong (the conformity theory)

Question 18

What is source monitoring theory?

Answer 18

Memories of an event are distorted but eyewitnesses can recall information about the event but cant recall where they got the information from (source confusion)

Question 19

What are strengths of research into leading questions & post event discussion?

Answer 19

Real life application -> research has huge important practical uses and serious implications if EWT is recalled inaccurately

Research into EWT is 1 area that psychologists believe -> research can improve the legal system & can make positive differences to peoples lives

Question 20

What are the limitations of research into leading questions & post event discussion?

Answer 20

Individual differences -> older people are less accurate of recall of younger people when giving eyewitness reports, 18-45 people are more accurate then 55-78, & people are more able to identify people of their own age range (age bias)

Demand characteristics -> participants want to appear helpful so when they’re asked a question they guess the answer even when they don’t know the answer