misleading information

Question 1

how can misleading information affect eyewitness tetstimony?

Answer 1

Misleading information can affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimony, including leading questions and post-event discussion

Question 2

define leading questions, response bias, substitution bias

Answer 2

Leading questions are questions that imply/lead us to a particular answer

Response bias = question affects our answer but leaves the memory in tact

Substitution bias = the question alters our memory

Question 3

Loftus and Palmer (1974) response bias

Answer 3

● 45 American students formed an opportunity sample
● Shown film clips of car accidents
● After they were asked the critical question: ‘About how fast were the cars going when they ___ into each other?’
● The missing verb: hit, contacted, bumped, collided or smashed

Findings:
- Found that the more extreme the verb, the faster the estimation of mph
- Contacted = mean estimated speed of 31.8mph
- smashed = 40.5mph

• This suggests misleading information in the form of leading questions can influence the recall of information

Question 4

Loftus and Palmer (1974) substitution bias

Answer 4

• After 1 week a questionnaire was sent to them asking ‘did you see any broken glass?’
• Found Ps who were asked how fast the cars were going when they smashed were (twice) more likely to report seeing broken glass

● leading questions can be long-lasting and actually changes memories via substitution
● The addition of false details to a memory of an event is referred to as confabulation

Question 5

what is post event discussion?

Answer 5

This is where other witnesses discuss with each other the details of a crime, following an incident

Question 6

Gabbert et al 2003 - post event discussion

Answer 6

● Paired Ps watched a video of the same crime but filmed so each P could see elements in the event that the other could not
● Both Ps discussed what they had seen on the video before individually completing a test of recall

● 71% of the ppts mistakenly recalled info they didnt see
● No errors in the control group (where there was no discussion)

• This suggests that witnesses will change their account of crimes to match other witnesses

Question 7

define memory contamination and conformity

post event discussion

Answer 7

1. memory contamination = This may be because when co-witnesses discuss a crime, they mix (mis)information from other witnesses with their own memories
2. memory contamination = because witnesses go along with each other to win social approval or because they believe the other witnesses are right