Misleading information Flashcards
What is the definition for eyewitness testimony (EWT)?
The ability of people to remember the details of events, such as accidents and crimes, which they themselves have observed. Accuracy of EWT can be affected by factors such as misleading information and anxiety.
What is the definition for misleading information?
Incorrect information given to the eyewitness usually after the event. It can take many forms, such as leading questions and post-event discussion.
What is a leading question?
A question which, because of the way that it is phrased, suggests a certain answer. For example “Was the knife in the defendant’s left hand?”
Who were the researchers who conducted a study into leading questions?
Loftus and Palmer.
What were Loftus and Palmer’s aims?
To investigate the effects of different phrasing of questions on responses to the speeds of crashing cars.
What was the procedure used in Loftus and Palmer’s study?
Arranged for participants to watch film clips of car accidents and then gave them questions about the accident. In the critical question (a leading question) participants were asked to describe how fast the cars were travelling. One group had a question including the verb “hit”, one had “contacted”, one had “bumped”, “collided”, “smashed”
What did Loftus and Palmer find?
The mean estimated speed was calculated for each participant group. The verb “contacted” resulted in a speed of 31.8 mph. For the verb “smashed”, the mean was 40.5 mph. This leading question biased the eyewitness recall of an event.
What is the response bias explanation?
The response-bias explanation suggests that the wording of the question has no real effect on the participants’ memories, but just influences how they decide to answer. When a participant gets a leading question using a more severe word, this encouraged a higher speed estimate.
What is the substitution explanation?
The substitution explanation suggests that the wording of a leading question actually changes the participants’ memory of the film clip. This was demonstrated because participants who originally heard ‘smashed’ later were more likely to report seeing broken glass (there was none).
What is post event discussion?
PED is where there is more than one witness and witnesses may discuss the event with other witnesses, or with other people. This may influence the witness’ recalling of the event.
- Eyewitness testimonies may become contaminated as they combine information from other witnesses with their own memories.
What was the name of the researcher who looked at the influence of post event discussion?
Gabbert et al.
What was Gabbert’s procedure?
They studied participants in pairs. Each participant watched a video of the same crime, but filmed from different points of view. This meant that each participant could see elements in the event that the other could not (e.g. only one of the participants could see the title of a book being carried by a young woman). Both participants then discussed what they had seen before individually completing a test of recall.
What did Gabbert find and conclude about PED?
The researchers found that 71% of the participants mistakenly recalled aspects of the event that they did not see in the video but had picked up in the discussion. The corresponding figure in a control group was 0%. Gabbert concluded that witnesses often go along with each other, either to win social approval or because they believe the other witnesses are right and they are wrong. – They coined this phenomenon ‘memory conformity’
What is memory conformity?
The principle that witnesses often go along with each other, either to win social approval or because they believe the other witnesses are correct.
What are the four evaluation points for the influence of misleading info on EWT?
- Good practical application e.g. in police interviews and courtroom settings.
- Much of the research uses artificial tasks (poor external validity)
- Demand characteristics may cause results in the study rather than influence of misleading info
- Presence of own age bias
