Misleading information Flashcards
What is misleading information?
incorrect information given to an eyewitness following an event
What are 2 types of misleading information?
Leading questions
Post-event discussion
Define leading questions
Questions that suggest what answer is desired
Which psychologists looked into the effect of leading questions?
Loftus + Palmer
Outline the procedure of Loftus and Palmer - Experiment 1
5 groups shown clips of a car accident
Asked how fast the cars were going when they ‘—–’ each other
What were the 5 variants in Loftus and Palmer - Experiment 1
Smashed Hit Collided Contacted Bumped
What were the findings of Loftus and Palmer - Experiment 1?
Those in the smashed condition had the highest speed predictions. Those in the contacted group had the lowest speed predictions.
Outline the procedure of Loftus and Palmer - Experiment 2
Participants watched a clip of a car accident
Hit and smashed conditions
Did you see any broken glass?
What were the findings of Loftus and Palmer - Experiment 2
Smash = recall seeing glass, unlike the majority in the hit condition
What is a weakness of Loftus and Palmer’s research?
Lacks external validity. Don’t experience the same emotions because it’s conducted in an artificial lab environment.
Students are not representative of the general population in a number of ways. Importantly they may be less experienced drivers and therefore less confident in their ability to estimate speeds. This may have influenced them to be more swayed by the verb in the question.
Define post-event discussion
A conversation between co-witnesses after a crime has taken pace, which may contaminate a witness’ memory of an event
What is a study investigating post-event discussion?
Gabbert et al.
Outline Gabbert et al.
Watched video of a girl stealing money from a wallet
Tested in pairs
Told that they’d seen a different perspective and that only 1 person had actually seen the girl stealing
Discussed crime
What are the findings from Gabbert et al.?
71% recalled info that they actually hadn’t seen
What is a strength of Gabbert et al.?
Good sample
120
Range of ages