misleading information Flashcards
what are the factors which affect eye witness testimony
leading questions
post event discussions
anxiety
weapon focus
what is the research into leading questions
-participants watched film clips of a car accident
-were asked various questions using different verbs
-the estimated speed for each verb varied with the verbs
Shows that wording of the question can alter recall of memories from participants
32% of participants recorded seeing broken glass who heard the word smashed
And only 14% who heard the word hit
why do leading questions affect EWT
Response bias- wording of the question has no affect just how they would want to answer
Memory altered- the verb may change their memories and make them seem more serious than if another verb was used
what research is there into post event discussion
This can occur when several eyewitnesses discuss crime with eachother
This can cause eyewitness to combine incorrect information from other witnesses with their own memories
-paired up and had to watch clips from two angles
-had to discuss what they had seen before completing a test of recall
-71% recalled aspects they had picked up in discussion
PED reduces reliability as witnesses may go along with others to gain social approval or because of internalisation
what are the supports for misleading information
-post event discussion
- leading questions
-it has huge practical uses in the real world
Apply to the betterment of police forces ,lawyers and judges
They will know to use less verbs and be careful to not use leading questions or let witnesses discuss
Psychologists can improve the legal system
-research has been done in a lab which controls extraneous variables
For example in the research of leading questions they used the same video
This is a strength as we can establish cause and affect therefore there’s a high internal validity
what are the limitations of misleading information experiments
-in leading questions
-in post event discussion
-artificial tasks
For example , watching a video instead of Watching in real life situations
This tells us nothing about how leading questions affect EWT in real life events
Lab studies result in demand characteristics therefore lowers validity
However , research shows that sometimes EWT is reliable even when leading questions are used because of a armed robbery that took place in Canada
Suggests may not affect people in real life situations
-individual differences
Individual differences are ignored
Older people are less accurate at recall than younger people -research shows
Shows there are other factors affecting EWT lowering validity as it’s hard to generalise to the older generation
