Post-Event discussion Flashcards
Define Post-Event Discussion
Often there is more than one witness, witnesses may talk before giving their testimony and can influence each others opinions.
Gabbert (2003) did an experiment on Post-event discussion, explain his study
P’s were placed in pairs; they then watched a video of the same crime from different points. One could see details, the other could not. Both participants then discussed before completing an individual recall test.
What where Gabbert’s (2003) study on post-event discussion’s findings.
71% of participants mistakenly recalled aspects from the event they they couldn’t see in the video. In a control group with 0 discussion there was 0% inaccurate recall. This shows that people were influenced during PED, this is know as memory conformity
What are the two affects of Post-event discussion
Memory contamination and memory conformity
Define memory contamination
co-witness discussion leads to their testimonies being altered and distorted. They combine their own memories with those of others
Define memory conformity
Witnesses go along with eachother. This can be because of NSI (the need to be liked) or ISI (The need to be right).
Give one strength of post event discussion
Post-event discussion is applicable to wider society. It can be used to help limit PED and increase accuracy.
Give one limitation of PED
It’s an artificial experiment and there arent any real consequences in Gabbert’s (2003) experiment therefore lacking ecological validity.
Skagerberg and Wright (2008) did a study to help the validity of PED, explain his study and his findings
A film clip was shown to participants. Two versions were shown, 1. the mugger had dark brown hair, and 2. mugger had light brown hair. Participants than discussed the clips and they all recalled a blended version of the two settling for a medium brown.
