Misleading Information and EWT

Question 1

What was the Method of Loftus and Palmer’s study?

Clue: Palm Trees

Answer 1

• 45 American students were shown 7 films of different car accidents
• After each film pps were given a questionnaire with a series of specific questions regarding the video including one critical question:
• How fast were the cars going when they ____ each other?
• PPs were divided into 5 groups, each group was asked the critical question with one of the following 5 verbs: hit, smashed, collided, bumped, contacted

Question 2

What were the findings and conclusions of Loftus and Palmer’s study?

Answer 2

FINDINGS: Estimated speed was affected by the verb used. When a more impactful verb like smashed was used PPs estimated a higher speed (40.8mph) than when a less impactful verb like ‘contacted’ was used (31.8mph)
CONCLUSIONS: Language used in questions can have a distorting effect on EWT which can lead to inaccurate accounts of witnessed events

Question 3

What was the Method of Gabbert el al’s study?

Clue: Gabbing

Answer 3

• PPs were split into pairs. Each PP watched a video of the same crime but from different perspectives
• This meant that each PP could see details in the event that the other could not e.g. only one could see the title of the book being carried
• Both PPs then discussed what they had seen before individually completing a test of recall
• There was also a control group where there was no discussion before the recall task

Question 4

What was the findings and conclusions of Gabbert el al’s study?

Answer 4

FINDINGS: In the experimental conditions, 71% of PPs mistakenly recalled aspects of the event that they did not see in their perspective but was rather picked up in discussion. The corresponding figure in the control condition was 0%
CONCLUSIONS: Witnesses may often change their memory to match the accounts of others. This may be due to: wanting to win social approval or self-doubt

Question 5

How is reliability a strength?

Answer 5

• A strength of research into misleading info is that studies like Loftus’ are often replicable
• Loftus used a range of controlled experiments when studying EWT.
• Because of the control over extraneous variables and the use of standardised procedures (e.g. using the same video of a car crash each time) in much of Loftus’ research it is easy to replicate
• This is a strength because it allows other researchers to replicate the study to check for consistency in results
• In fact, Loftus herself conducted a large number of studies into EWT and found the same outcome - that leading questions distort EWT
• Through using such high levels of control and thus replicability, Loftus has been able to produce highly reliable results

Question 6

How is artificiality a weakness?

Answer 6

• A weakness is that the studies are often artificial
• Loftus used a video of a car accident for practical and ethical reasons
• However, real life events often take place unexpectedly and in an atmosphere of high tension
• This is a problem as due to these differences the results may not be applicable to real life where recall of events may be significantly different to in a laboratory
• Futhermore, Foster at al found that if PPs thought they were watching a real life robbery important to a real trial, identification of the robber was much more accurate than if they did not
• Thus Loftus’ research lacks ecological validity

Question 7

How is practical applications a stength?

Answer 7

• Another strength is that it has practical applications
• Loftus’ research reveals to us that leading questions can lead to significant distortions in memory
• This is a strength because having this understanding informs interviewers to be cautious when conducting police interviews by ensuring they don’t ask leading questions
• This is particularly important in the legal system when interviewing eyewitnesses as this understanding should reduce the amount of wrongful convictions
• This increases the utility of the research as it can help improve lives

Question 8

How is contradictory real life research a weakness?

Answer 8

• A weakness is that there is research that contradicts that of Loftus’
• Yuille & Cutshall studied a real life situation of a shooting outside a gunshop in Canada
• They examined witnesses recall of the crime 5 months after the incident and asked them 2 leading questions
• They found that the leading questions did NOT alter accuracy of recall from their original statements
• This is a weakness because it refutes Loftus’ findings showing that misleading info does NOT actually distort accuracy of EWT - especially in real life cases of crime where there may be genuine consequences
• This decreases the validity of Loftus’ research and her conclusions