Misleading Information and EWT Flashcards
FACTORS AFFECTING EWT
Eyewitness Testimony (EWT)
The evidence provided in court by a person who has witnessed a crime/ incident with a view to identify the perpetrator of the crime.
What are EWT affected by?
Leading questions
Leading Questions:
By its form or content, it suggests to the witness the desired answer e.g. “What colour was the man’s hat?” - implies that he was wearing a hat.
Post-event discussion:
Any information discussed after the event has happened which could influence a person’s memory of the event. Includes discussions with other witnesses, news reports or chats with other people.
What did Loftus and Palmer want to test?
Whether leading questions alter how people remember events and can therefore cause witnesses to give distorted and false testimonies.
What was Loftus and Palmer’s aim?
To investigate the effect of leading questions in distorting the accuracy of EWT.
What was the method of investigating the effects of leading questions?
- Loftus and Palmer - carried out lab exp using independent groups design
- 45 American students shown 7 films of different car accidents
- After each film, ppts were given a questionnaire asking them a series of specific questions on the accident, including one critical question
What was the critical question that Loftus and Palmer asked?
“About how fast were the cars going when they _______ each other?”
What were the 5 following verbs given in the critical question?
~ Hit
~ Smashed
~ Collided
~ Bumped
~ Contacted
How many groups were the participants divided in?
5
The independent variable of the Loftus and Palmer exp:
Wording of the question
The dependent variable of the Loftus and Palmer exp:
Speed reported by the participants
What were the findings of investigating the effects of leading questions?
- The estimated speed was affected by the verb used in the critical question
- When a more impactful verb (smashed) was used, participants estimated that the cars were travelling at a higher speed compared to when the verb “contacted” was used
What were the estimates of speed when the verb smashed vs contacted was used in the critical question?
40.8mph > 31.8mph
What was the conclusion of investigating the effects of leading questions?
The language used in questions can have a distorting effect on EWT which can lead to inaccurate accounts of the witnessed event.
What was Gabbert et al’s aim?
To investigate the effects of post-event information in distorting the accuracy of EWT.
What was the method of investigating the effects of post-event discussion?
- Ppts split into pairs
- Each ppt watched a vid of the same crime but from diff viewpoints and could therfore see elements in their own video that the other could not
- E.g only one ppt in the pair could see the title of a book being carried by a young woman
- Both ppts then discussed what they saw in the video before individually completing a test of recall
- CONTROL GROUP - NO DISCUSSION BEFORE RECALL
What were the findings of investigating the effects of post-event discussion?
- In the experimental group - 71% of the ppts mistakenly recalled aspects of the event that they did not see in the video, but had picked up in the discussion.
- The control group - 0%
Experimental group of post-event discussion?
DISCUSSION BEFORE RECALL
Control group of post-event discussion?
NO DISCUSSION BEFORE RECALL
Percentage of ppts that mistakenly recalled aspects of the event in the experimental group:
71%
What was the conclusion of investigating the effects of post-event discussion?
Witnesses often change their memory and go along with the accounts of others to win social approval or a lack of self confidence as they believe they are wrong and the other witnesses are right.
Effects of high control in experiments:
High control ~ establish standardised procedure ~ experiment is replicable
Strengths of misleading information:
- Reliability
- Practical application to real life
A strength of research into misleading information is that studies like Loftus and Palmer are replicable.
Loftus used a range of controlled experiments
Control over extraneous variables + use of standardised procedures (e.g. using the same video of a car crash each time) = easy to replicate
Allows other researchers to replicate the study to check for consistency
Loftus herself conducted a large number of studies and found same outcomes of leading questions distorting EWT - replicable
Increase in validity
A strength of research into misleading information is its practical application to real life.
Loftus’ research revealed that leading questions lead to significant distortions of memory and thus EWT.
This understanding informs interviewers to be cautious of asking leading questions in interviews
Very important in the legal system and this understanding helps preventing wrongful convictions
Increases in utility - improves lives
A weakness of research into misleading info is that studies like Loftus are often artificial.
Loftus used a VIDEO of a car accident for practical and ethical reasons
Difficult to reproduce real life EWT conditions as they often take place unexpectedly and in an atmosphere of high tension and emotional arousal.
Due to these differences, results may not apply to real life, where recall in real life might be significantly different to in a lab
Thus Loftus’ research lacks ecological validity
What did Foster et al (1994) find?
If ppts thought they were watching a real life robbery important to a real trial, their identification of the robber was much more accurate.
A weakness of research into misleading info is that there is contradictory real life research.
Yuille and Cutshall (1986) - studied real life situation of a shooting outside a gun shop in Canada.
They examined witnesses recall of a real-life crime 5 months after incident and asked them two leading questions - found that it did NOT alter accuracy of recall from their original statements
Refutes Loftus’ findings and shows that leading questions do not distort accuracy of EWT, especially for a real life crime
Decreases the validity of research into misleading info on EWT.
Yuille and Cutshall (1986)
EFFECTS OF LEADING QUESTIONS
Real life situation of a shooting outside a gun shop in Canada.
Gabbert et al (2003)
EFFECTS OF POST EVENT DISCUSSION
Video of same crime but from diff viewpoints
Loftus and Palmer (1974)
EFFECTS OF LEADING QUESTIONS
Film of car accident with one critical question
Johnson and Scott (1976)
EFFECTS OF ANXIETY ON EWT
Two experimental conditions - one with low anxiety (no weapon) and one with high (with weapon).
Loftus and Burns (1982)
EFFECTS OF ANXIETY ON EWT
Ppts watched film of fake robbery. Two conditions: violent (boy shot in the face) and non violent
