misleading information AO1 Flashcards
1
Q
what is eyewitness testimony?
A
the ability of people to remember the details of events such as accidents and crimes, which they themselves have observed
2
Q
what is misleading information?
A
incorrect information is given to an eyewitness usually after the event
- can take many forms such as misleading questions and post-event discussion
3
Q
what effect do misleading questions have on the witness?
A
- the wording of the question may lead you to give a certain question
- may direct a witness to give a particular answer
4
Q
PROCEDURE - Elizabeth Loftus and John Palmer (1974)
A
- arranged 45 ppts to watch film clips of car accidents
- asked them questions about the accident
- in the leading question ppts were asked to describe how fast the cars were travelling
- 5 groups of ppts and each group was given a different verb in the leading question
- hit, contacted, bumped, collided, smashed
5
Q
FINDINGS - Elizabeth Loftus and John Palmer (1974)
A
- the mean estimated speed was calculated for each ppts group
- verb contacted resulted in a mean speed of 31.8mph
- smashed 40.5mph
- leading question biased the eyewitnesses recall of an event
6
Q
why does misleading information affect eyewitness testimony?
A
- this response bias explanation suggests that the wording of the question has no effect on the ppt memory but just influences how they decide to answer
7
Q
what were Loftus and Palmer’s 2nd experiments about? and what were the findings?
A
- which proposes that the wording of a leading question changes the ppts memory of the film clip
- some ppts who heard smashed were later more likely to report seeing broken glass (there was none) than those who heard hit
- the misleading verb altered their memory of the incident
8
Q
what is a post-event discussion?
A
- occurs when there is more than one witness to an event
- witnesses may discuss what they have seen with other witnesses
- may influence the accuracy of each witness’s recall of the event
