Misleading information MEM Flashcards
Eyewitness testimony EWT
the ability of people to remember the details of events, such as accidents and crimes, which they themselves have observed.
misleading information
incorrect information given to an eyewitness usually after the event
leading question
a question which, because of the way its phrased, suggests a certain answer
post event discussion PED
occurs when there is more than one witness to an event and Eyewitnesses sometimes discuss their experiences together
response bias explanation
suggests that the wording of the question has no effect on the participants’ memories but it influences how they answer.
substitution explanation
the wording of a leading question changes the participants memory
psychologists
research on leading questions
aim
Loftus and Palmer
To see whether participants would change their thought process due to the leading questions
psychologists
research on leading questions
procedure
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
psychologists
research on leading questions
findings and conclusions
Mean estimated speed was calculated:
- 31.8 mph for contacted
- 40.5 for smashed
The leading question biassed the eyewitnesses’ recall of an event.
Why do leading questions affect EWT?
- response bias
- substitution
Loftus and Palmers second experiment
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
psychologists
Research on post event discussion
aim
**Gabbert et al **aimed to test the effect of PED on the accuracy of EWT
psychologists
Research on post event discussion
procedure
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
psychologists
Research on post event discussion
findings
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.
Why does post event discussion affect EWT?
- memory contamination
- memory conformity
memory contamination
eyewitnesses combine information which alters or distorts they EWTs
Memory conformity
**Gabbert et al **concluded that eyewitnesses go along with each other for social approval or fear of being wrong, the memory is unchanged.
real world application
strength
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.
evidence against substitution
limitation
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
evidence challenging memory conformity
limitation
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
RWA counterpoint
limitation
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
