Misleading Information Flashcards
Define Misleading information
Incorrect information given to a witness after an event.
What can Misleading Information lead to
It can lead to an inaccurate testimony; police may influence the responses of witnesses. This can lead to wrongful conviction.
Explain Loftus and Plamer’s (1974) study on Misleading Information
45 p’s watched a car crash, they were then asked a question with a critical verb, there were 5 control groups with different verbs, these were: hit, smashed, bumped, contacted and collided. They were then asked to estimate the speed of the cars.
What were the findings of Loftus and Plamer’s (1974) study
The verb smashed gave the highest speed estimate of 40.5mph and contact had the lowest at 31.8mph. This shows how misleading info. leads to inaccurate testimony.
Loftus and Plamer’s (1974) then followed their study with a second question ‘was there broken glass’, what were their findings
They found that is the verb was smashed then 16 people answered yes and if it was hit then only 7 said yes (there was no glass) This shows that leading questions can give people false ideas
What are the two reasons of misleading information influencing EWT
Response bias and Substitution explanation
What is response bias
Response bias is when the wording of questions doesn’t influence memory but how we answer.
What is the substitution explanation
This is when the wording does influence and change our memory. (Loftus and Plamer’s 2nd experiment)
Give one strength of Misleading Information
One strength of misleading information is that it’s practical. The CJS use it to show that EWT isnt a reliable source of evidence and now rely on DNA analysis because 75% of false convictions stem from EWT.
What is one limitation of loftus and palmers study
Watching a clip of a crash is a lot different to witnessing one. Therefor EWT may be more accurate in real life where there are more dire consequences
Sutherland and Hayne (2001) proposed a limitation of The substitution explanation, Explain their study.
P’s were asked misleading questions following a video clip, accuracy for central details were higher than peripheral details. This weakens the substitution explanation, as the memory was not changed.
