Memory - Factors Affecting Accuracy Of EWT Flashcards
EWT
Eyewitness testimony
What type of discussion is EWT?
Post-event discussion
Post-event discussion
Discussion based on memory which could be filled with misleading information
Leading question
Question that prompts the answer wanted
Example of a leading question and why it is a leading question
Did you see the women hit the dog? Leading question because it assumes a women hit the dog
Who carried out the ‘Car Crash’ study in 1974?
Loftus and Palmer
Aim of Loftus and Palmer’s ‘Car Crash’ study
To investigate if leading questions distort accuracy of eyewitnesses’ immediate recall
Participants of Loftus and Palmer’s ‘Car Crash’ study
45 students
What were all students shown in Loftus and Palmer’s ‘Car Crash’ study?
A short video clip of a car crash
How many groups were the 45 students in Loftus and Palmer’s ‘Car Crash’ study split into?
5 groups of 9
What type of question were all the participants in Loftus and Palmer’s ‘Car Crash’ study asked?
A critical question
Question asked to all groups in Loftus and Palmer’s ‘Car Crash’ study
How fast were the cars going when they ____ each other?
What words filled the gap of the question in Loftus and Palmer’s ‘Car Crash’ study?
Each of the 5 groups had different words in the questions: smashed, collided, bumped, hit or contacted
IV in Loftus and Palmer’s ‘Car Crash’ study
The verb used
DV in Loftus and Palmer’s ‘Car Crash’ study
The estimate of speed given by the participants
What research methods was used in Loftus and Palmer’s ‘Car Crash’ study?
Lab experiment
What experimental design was used in Loftus and Palmer’s ‘Car Crash’ study?
Independent groups
When the verb ‘smashed’ was used in the question, what was the mean estimate of speed for the group in Loftus and Palmer’s ‘Car Crash’ study?
40.8mph
When the verb ‘contacted’ was used in the question, what was the mean estimate of speed for the group in Loftus and Palmer’s ‘Car Crash’ study?
31.8mph
Describe the results of Loftus and Palmer’s ‘Car Crash’ study
The higher the intensity of the verb, the higher the mean estimate speed
What did the manipulation of the IV in Loftus and Palmer’s ‘Car Crash’ study change? What does this establish?
Caused the DV to change which established a cause-and-effect relationship
Positive of using lab experiment in Loftus and Palmer’s ‘Car Crash’ study
Extraneous variables could be controlled
How were extraneous variable controlled in Loftus and Palmer’s ‘Car Crash’ study?
All participants watched the same video
What prevented demand characteristics in Loftus and Palmer’s ‘Car Crash’ study?
The use of distractor questions as they allowed participants to not know what the researcher was hoping to find out
Who carried out the ‘Broken Glass’ study in 1974?
Loftus and Palmer
How many participants were there in Loftus and Palmer’s ‘Broken Glass’ study?
150 student participants
What were the participants shown in Loftus and Palmer’s ‘Broken Glass’ study?
A multi-vehicle car accident video
What were participants told to do following watching the video in Loftus and Palmer’s ‘Broken Glass’ study
Complete a questionnaire about it
How many groups were the participants of Loftus and Palmer’s ‘Broken Glass’ study split into?
3 groups of 50
What was each group asked in Loftus and Palmer’s ‘Broken Glass’ study in the questionnaire following watching the video? (3 different)
One group: How fast were the cars going when they hit each other?
One group: How fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?
One group: Asked no question about speed
What questions were all the groups asked in Loftus and Palmer’s ‘Broken Glass’ study?
Distractor questions
What were all participants asked a week after completing the questionnaire in Loftus and Palmer’s ‘Broken Glass’ study?
Did you see any broken glass? Although there was no broken glass in the video
For the group who was asked the questions with the verb ‘smashed’ in it, how many said there was glass and how many said there wasn’t in Loftus and Palmer’s ‘Broken Glass’ study?
16/50 said yes
34/50 said no
For the group who was asked the questions with the verb ‘hit’ in it, how many said there was glass and how many said there wasn’t in Loftus and Palmer’s ‘Broken Glass’ study?
7/50 said yes
43/50 said no
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW FOR EXAM: Majority said no for the verb ‘hit’
For the group who was asked no question about speed, how many said there was glass and how many said there wasn’t in Loftus and Palmer’s ‘Broken Glass’ study?
6/50 said yes
44/50 said no
Conclusion of Loftus and Palmer’s ‘Broken Glass’ study
Verb used in critical question influenced whether participants stated they had seen broken glass
What explains reason for the control group in Loftus and Palmer’s ‘Broken Glass’ study saying there was broken glass?
The use of schema. They have expectation that broken glass would be present in a car crash
What two thing happen when we see an event according to Loftus and Palmer? What happens to these two things?
- We take in information of what we have seen
- We get other information supplied to us
These two things amalgamate so we can no longer separate what we saw and what we were told
Amalgamate
Combine
Criticism of Loftus and Palmer’s research
Lacks ecological validity as participants weren’t watching a car crash in real-life as they only saw a video
Who conducted a field study in 1986 which contrasted with Loftus and Palmer’s research?
Yuille and Cutshall
Aim of Yuille and Cutshall’s field study
Find out if EWT for real events can be influenced by misleading information and how reliable the EWT is
Procedure of Yuille and Cutshall’s field study
13 witnesses to a robbery and murder in Canada were re-interviewed 5 months after the crime happened
What crime happened in Yuille and Cutshall’s field study?
Young man robbed gun store and shot the shop owner
How many misleading questions did the re-interview in Yuille and Cutshall’s field study include?
2
What effect did the misleading questions have on EWT in Yuille and Cutshall’s field study?
No effect
How accurate was the participants recall of the crime in Yuille and Cutshall’s field study?
Very accurate
Despite the violent nature of the crime, what were the witnesses accounts of the crime like in Yuille and Cutshall’s field study?
Very reliable and accurate
Conclusion of Yuille and Cutshall’s field study
Witnesses of real-life incidents had accurate memories, even when incident involved high levels of anxiety
In a post-event discussion, what may the original memory of an event be distorted by?
By discussion of the event with other people
What can distort original memory?
Repeated interviews
Memory conformity
People being influenced by another person’s report
What does memory conformity result in?
Individual’s memory report becoming more similar to another
Source monitoring theory
Memories of events are generally distorted as the eyewitnesses can recall information about the event, but can’t recall where the information came from
Source confusion
You become confused of where you got the information from
Why does the recall of eyewitnesses change according to the conformity theory?
Because they go along with accounts of co-witnesses
Why may people go along with accounts of co-witnesses?
For social approval or because they generally believe in what they are saying
Who carried out a study into post-event discussion?
Wright et al
Procedure of Wright et al’s study into post-event discussion
Showed pairs of participants an identical crime, except half saw accomplice with the thief and half didn:t
How accurate were the initial memories of Wright et al’s study into post-event discussion
Very accurate
After discussing the crime with another person in the pair who saw a different sequence, what percentage of pairs showed conformity by saying they had seen an accomplice with the thief in Wright et al’s study into post-event discussion?
75%
What law shows the role of anxiety on accuracy of EWT?
The Yerkes-Dodson Law
According to The Yerkes-Dodson Law, what do we have when undergoing a period of stress?
We all have an optimum level of stress to help us deal with stressful situation/period
What is an optimum level of stress?
A level of stress that is beneficial for an individual
What improves with an increase in arousal (stress) and up to what point, according to The Yerkes-Dodson Law?
Performance improves up to an optimum point
Performance if you are not releasing the optimum level of adrenaline (either too much or not enough)
Performance will be low
How does The Yerkes-Dodson Law link to EWT?
People who are very close to the crime could give incorrect eyewitness accounts because the law suggests that when stress levels are too high, our performance is poor
What is the point of a cognitive interview?
To gather information from cooperative witnesses to increase the quantity and quality of information
What is the primary rule of a cognitive interview and why?
Let witness to most of the talking to ensure witness is using their own words and memory
Cognitive reinstatement
Interviewers ask EW to slow down and think about process of crime in a lot of detail
