Paper 1 - Memory - Topic 2 - Factors Affecting The Accuracy Of Eyewitness Testimony: Misleading Information

Question 1

2.7 What is misleading information in the context of eyewitness testimony?

Answer 1

Wording of questions that may lead or mislead a witness to give a certain answer

Question 2

2.7 Who conducted research on misleading information and eyewitness testimony?

Answer 2

Elizabeth Loftus and John Palmer

Question 3

2.7 What was the critical question asked in Loftus and Palmer’s experiment?

Answer 3

About how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?

Question 4

2.7 What verbs were used in Loftus and Palmer’s leading question experiment?

Answer 4

Hit
Contacted
Bumped
Collided
Smashed

Question 5

2.7 What was the mean estimate speed for the verb ‘Smashed’ in Loftus and Palmer’s study? Then what was it for the verb ‘Contacted’?

Answer 5

40.5 MPH
31.8 MPH

Question 6

2.7 What explanation suggests that leading questions influence how participants decide to answer?

Answer 6

Response-bias explanation

Question 7

2.7 What does the substitution explanation propose about leading questions?

Answer 7

Wording changes the participant’s memory of the event

Question 8

2.7 What was the finding in Loftus and Palmer’s second experiment regarding broken glass?

Answer 8

Participants who heard ‘smashed’ were more likely to report seeing broken glass

Question 9

2.7 What does post-event discussion refer to?

Answer 9

Discussions between eyewitnesses after an event

Question 10

2.7 What percentage of participants recalled aspects of an event they did not see due to post-event discussion in Gabbert et al’s study?

Answer 10

71%

Question 11

2.7 What is memory conformity?

Answer 11

Witnesses go along with each other to win social approval or believe others are correct

Question 12

2.7 What is memory contamination?

Answer 12

Alteration of eyewitness testimonies due to discussion with other witnesses

Question 13

2.7 What is a practical application of research into misleading information? (AO3)

Answer 13

Improving the criminal justice system by understanding the limits of eyewitness testimony

Shows that psychologists can help to improve the way the legal system works, especially by protecting innocent people from faulty convictions based on unreliable EWT

Question 14

2.7 What did Loftus (1975) suggest regarding police questioning? (AO3)

Answer 14

Police officers need to be careful about how they phrase their questions

Question 15

2.7 What is a counterpoint to the practical applications of EWT research? (AO3)

Answer 15

Participants in lab settings may not be as motivated to be accurate as real witnesses

Suggests that researchers such as Loftus are to pessimistic about the effects of misleading information and- EWT may be more dependable than many studies suggest

Question 16

2.7 What did Sutherland and Hayne (2001) find about the accuracy of EWT? (AO3)

Answer 16

Recall was more accurate for central details than peripheral ones

Suggests that the original memories for central details survived and were not distorted, an outcome that is not predicted by the substitution explanation

Question 17

2.7 What did Skagerberg and Wright (2008) demonstrate about post-event discussion? (AO3)

Answer 17

It can distort memory, leading to blended or altered recollections

This suggests that the memory itself is distorted through contamination by misleading post-event discussion, rather than the result of memory conformity

Question 18

2.7 What are demand characteristics in the context of lab studies on EWT? (AO3)

Answer 18

Participants may provide answers they think that the researcher wants to hear