Misleading information

Question 1

What is eyewitness testimony?

Answer 1

The ability of people to remember details of events e.g. accidents, crimes which they themselves have observed

Question 2

What is a leading question?

Answer 2

A question which, because of the way it is phrased suggests a certain answer

Question 3

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

Answer 3

to investigate the effect of leading questions on eyewitness testimony

Question 4

Outline Loftus & Palmer’s procedure

Answer 4

-45 participants divided into 5 groups of 9
-all had to watch film clips of car accidents then answer the accompanying question ‘how fast were the cars going when they___ each other?
-each group given a different verb: hit, collided, bumped, smashed, contacted

Question 5

What were the findings of Loftus & Palmer’s experiment?

Answer 5

mean estimated speed for verb contacted= 31.8
mean for verb smashed=40.5

Question 6

What two explanations are there for why leading questions affect EWT?

Answer 6

• response-bias- wording of question has no real effect on the P’s memories but just influences how they decide to answer
• substitute explanation-the wording of a leading question changes the P’s memory e.g. those who heard smash said there was broken glass (none)

Question 7

What is post-event discussion?

Answer 7

-Occurs when there is more than one witness to an event who may discuss what they have seen with co-witnesses or with other people
=may influence accuracy of each witnesses recall of the event

Question 8

Who conducted research on Post-event discussion?

Answer 8

Gabbert et al

Question 9

Outline the procedure of Gabbert’s research

Answer 9

-studied p’s in pairs
-each p’s watched a video of the same crime but filmed from different points of view
-each p could see elements in the event that the other their pair couldn’t
-both p’s could then discuss what they had seen before individually completing a test of recall

Question 10

What were Gabbert’s findings?

Answer 10

71% of participants mistakenly recalled aspects of the event that they did not see in the video but had picked up from their discussion
-in control group 0%
= memory conformity

Question 11

What two explanations are there for why post-event discussion affects EWT?

Answer 11

memory contamination- when co-witnesses to a crime discuss the crime, their EWT may become altered or distorted&raquo_space; combine misinformation from others with their own memories

memory conformity- witnesses go along with each other for social approval or because they believe they are right» memory unchanged

Question 12

What evidence is their against the substitution explanation?

Answer 12

-EWT is more accurate for some aspects of an event than for others
-Sutherland & Hayne showed p’s a video clip
-when p’s later asked misleading questions their recall was more accurate for central details of event rather than peripheral ones
-central features details survived & not distorted
-not predicted by substitution explanation

Question 13

What is evidence is there that challenges memory conformity?

Answer 13

• evidence that post-event discussion actually alters EWT
  -Skagerberg & Wright- showed their p’s film clips
  -two versions e.g. mugger’s hair was dark brown in one but light brown in the other
  -p’s discussed clips in pairs after seeing different versions
  -reported a blend of the two (medium brown)
  -memory itself is distorted through contamination

Question 14

Why does research into misleading information have real world application?

Answer 14

-important practical uses in criminal justice system
-Consequences of EWT can be very serious-Loftus believes leading questions can have a distorting effect on memory-police need to be careful how they phrase questions
-Psychologist also act as expert witnesses in court trials-& explain limits of EWT
=improve way legal system works