Misleading information Flashcards
What is misleading information?
Incorrect information given to a witness usually after the event (often called post-event information)
What are leading questions?
A question which, because of the way its phrased, suggests a certain answer
What is post event discussion?
Occurs when there is more than one witness to an event so witnesses may discuss what they have seen with co-witnesses which may influence eachothers accuracy
What was Loftus and Palmer’s procedure?
45 students were asked to watch clips of car accidents and were then asked what speed the cars were going when they _____ (leading word. Leading words - hit, contacted, bumped, collided and smashed
What were Loftus and Palmer’s findings?
The mean estimated speed was calculated for each group and the verb ‘contacted’ resulted in a mean per of 31.8 mph whereas the verb ‘smashed’ resulted in a mean speed of 40.5 mph
What are the two explanations of leading questions?
Response bias and substitution explanation
What is response bias?
Similar to demand characteristics, wanting to be helpful so confirming what the questioner implies with their leading question
What is substitution explanation?
Information from a leading question is actually incorporated into original memory trace and now feels like it’s part of the memory
What was Gabbert et al. ‘s procedure?
Participants were paired up and each participant watched a video of the same crime but from different points of view so each participant could see something the other could not and both participants discussed what they saw before individually completing a recall test.
What were Gabbert et al.’s findings?
71% of participants mistakenly recalled aspects of the event that they didn’t see in the video, however, those in a control group with no discussion had 0 mistakes.
What is memory contamination?
Original memory altered because witness combines mis(information) from other witnesses with own memories
What is memory conformity?
Eyewitnesses may go along with other witnesses’ memories to gain social approval or because they believe others are correct
