Misleading information MEM

Question 1

Eyewitness testimony EWT

Answer 1

the ability of people to remember the details of events, such as accidents and crimes, which they themselves have observed.

Question 2

misleading information

Answer 2

incorrect information given to an eyewitness usually after the event

Question 3

leading question

Answer 3

a question which, because of the way its phrased, suggests a certain answer

Question 4

post event discussion PED

Answer 4

occurs when there is more than one witness to an event and Eyewitnesses sometimes discuss their experiences together

Question 5

response bias explanation

Answer 5

suggests that the wording of the question has no effect on the participants’ memories but it influences how they answer.

Question 6

substitution explanation

Answer 6

the wording of a leading question changes the participants memory

Question 7

psychologists

research on leading questions

aim

Answer 7

Loftus and Palmer

To see whether participants would change their thought process due to the leading questions

Question 8

psychologists

research on leading questions

procedure

Answer 8

Loftus and Palmer

• 45 participants in 5 groups
• Film clips of car accidents
• Asked them leading (critical) questions
• ‘About how fast were the cars going when they HIT each other?’
• Hit was replaced with contacted, bumped, collided,smashed

Question 9

psychologists

research on leading questions

findings and conclusions

Answer 9

Mean estimated speed was calculated:
- 31.8 mph for contacted
- 40.5 for smashed
The leading question biassed the eyewitnesses’ recall of an event.

Question 10

Why do leading questions affect EWT?

Answer 10

• response bias
• substitution

Question 11

Loftus and Palmers second experiment

Answer 11

supported the substitution explanation:
- Those who first heard ‘smashed’ were more likely to report seeing broken glass than those who heard ‘hit’
- Critical verb altered memory of incident

Question 12

psychologists

Research on post event discussion

aim

Answer 12

**Gabbert et al **aimed to test the effect of PED on the accuracy of EWT

Question 13

psychologists

Research on post event discussion

procedure

Answer 13

Gabbert et al

• Participants in pairs
• Video of same crime from different viewpoints
• Participants discussed what they had seen before individually completing a test of recall

Question 14

psychologists

Research on post event discussion

findings

Answer 14

Gabbert et al

71% of participants recalled aspects of the event that they did not witness in the video but had heard in discussion. Whereas in a control group it was 0%. This is evidence for memory conformity.

Question 15

Why does post event discussion affect EWT?

Answer 15

• memory contamination
• memory conformity

Question 16

memory contamination

Answer 16

eyewitnesses combine information which alters or distorts they EWTs

Question 17

Memory conformity

Answer 17

**Gabbert et al **concluded that eyewitnesses go along with each other for social approval or fear of being wrong, the memory is unchanged.

Question 18

real world application

strength

Answer 18

Important practical use in the criminal justice system
- Serious consequences of inaccurate EWT
- Loftus
- leading questions have distorting effect on memory
- Police need to be careful on how they phrase questions
- Psychologists are asked to explain to juries the limitations of EWT
Psychologists can help to improve the way the legal system works, especially by protecting innocent people from faulty convictions.

Question 19

evidence against substitution

limitation

Answer 19

EWT is more accurate for some aspects of an event then for others
- **Sutherland **and Hayne
- Video clip then asked misleading question
Recall was more accurate for central details
Original memories for central details survived and were not distorted

Question 20

evidence challenging memory conformity

limitation

Answer 20

Post event discussion actually alters EWT
- **Skagerberg **and **Wright **
- Film clips with light or dark brown hair
- Often reported with a blend like ‘medium’ brown
Memory is distorted through contamination

Question 21

RWA counterpoint

limitation

Answer 21

BUT
Issues with research affect practical implications
- Loftus and palmer
- Lab made it unrealistic
- Foster et al
- EWT have importance in real worlds but not in experiments
Researchers are too pessimistic about the effects of misleading information - EWT may be more dependable than many studies suggest