Post Event Information Summary Flashcards
Post Event Information Summary
Misinformation effect
When post event information interferes with the memory of an event
Distort ( source monitoring error) the original memory with a new information that may not be true
but because you’re not certain where the original information was from
it therefore must be real so you add it to your memory
For example you hear something about an event on the news
and you add it to your memory of the account
even if what the news said is false and you 100% believe that it is true and
it’s hard to change your memory back once you believe it’s 100% true
An example of thisis loftus’s buggs bunny at disney world ad
they got people to remember seeing Bugs Bunny at Disneyland despite being a Warner Bros property
Post Event Information Summary
Reconstructive memory
Memory is flawed and has gaps in it
use schema which are information on a subject this is familiar, culturally expected, stereotypical
Use the schema to make it make sense/ famility ( transformation/confabulation)
Use the schema to reorder event (rationalised)
or to shorten it (simplify)
This is so the memory fits with our expectations and make sense (efforts after meaning)
For example Duncan 1976
96 paid undergraduate white students observed and ambiguous shove video of either a white person shoving a black person
or a black person shoving a white person
and it was found that the black person pushing the white person was rated as more violent despite it being the same action
showing how stereotypical schema can affect the reconstruction of memory
Post Event Information Summary
Leading questions
A leading question is a question which contains previously unknown information to the witness for example what hand did they hold the gun and the next question is did they have a weapon
loftus reconstructive hypothesis suggests that memory of an event is made of two parts one the information from The Event
and the information after the event
Loftus in Palmer experiment 2
all groups stated that they saw glass despite their not being any glass (broken in the crash)
for the question asks did you see any broken glass this is post event information
therefore these people stated that they did see it because the post event information is added to the information from The Event to create the memory of the events
Post Event Information Summary
Evidence to support
Duncan 1976
Duncan Found that 96 white undergraduate US students observed an ambiguous shove either between a black person pushing the white person or a white person pushing the black person
They found that the black person pushing a white person was rated as more aggressive despite being the same action therefore showing that stereotypical schema can distort the account of memory which is supporting post event information Theory as its changed the memory with schema
Post Event Information Summary
Poor research Duncan 1976
gen ethnocentric and ed
96 white American undergraduate students the very specific group of people that can’t be generalized to other cultures or other levels of education
therefore the results of the study that supports the link between reconstructive memory theory and post event information Theory
isn’t generalizable to other cultures and other levels of education
Therefore making it bad evidence to support the theory
Post Event Information Summary
Evidence support
Gabbert et al 2003
They showed pairs of participants of video of the same crime but filmed from different angles
Each one of the pair saw a slightly different version of the film and each pair was encouraged to discuss what they had seen and then they were tested on their recall of event individually
They found that 71% of participants referred details that they could not have seen in the video and must have picked up as part of discussion
In the non-discussion control group there was no examples of details being reported that they would not have seen
Therefore showing that post event information can distort the memory meaning that this study supports post event information Theory
Post Event Information Summary
Gabbert at al 2003 poor research
Ecological Validity
This is a lab study involving watching video so the participants would have less emotion than if they were witnessing the crime in real life
Therefore
If witnessing the event for real with the emotional connection there would be motivation for accuracy and this would have ensured that the participants in the discussion groups retain the information of the event accurately without interference as it is important for the event information to remain clear so they can catch the criminal
this therefore gives the study low ecological validity due to videos not conveying the same emotional response to crime as a real witness, meaning the results are less likely to occur in real life
Post Event Information Summary
Evidence oposing
Yuille and cutshall 1986
yuille and cutshall 1986
they found the 13 questioned Witnesses of the gunshop theft shooting were given inaccurate misleading questions but it had little effects at distorting their memory of the event therefore disagreeing with post event information Theory
Post Event Information Summary
how good research +
yuille and cutshall 1986
The study of high ecological validity as this is the first eyewitness testimony case study from an actual shooting from a gun theft and Vancouver Canada
Therefore the eyewitness testimony occurred in real life giving the study high ecological validity as it’s research that occurred in a real-life crime a real life witnesses and therefore application to real life
Meaning that it’s good research to oppose post event information Theory
Post Event Information Summary
Compared to the multi-store model of memory and flash ball Memory
Is less reductionist in MSN while PEI doesn’t take into account stm displacement/ Decay or ltm interference as MSM does for the change/loss of memory it does include leading questions reconstruction memory theory and the misinformation effects meaning it takes into account more reasons for changes in memory than MSM does making a better explanation of I witness testimony inaccuracy than MSM
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Flash ball memories more likely to occur in real life compared to PEI this is due to flash memory occurring when the emotional connection attached to a memory means that it bypasses STM and go straight to LTN and is more like to be remembered meanwhile PEI is mainly made on lamp studies which are much less emotional and therefore due to in real life situations being a lot more emotional than in land and staged field studies flash ball memory is more likely to occur in real life than PEI which means in real life eyewitness testimonies are more likely to be accurate
Post Event Information Summary
Conclusion and application
In conclusion post event information Theory has a wide range of ideas to explore the inaccuracies of eyewitness testimonies and it therefore gives a clear explanation of why slash how memory can become distorted
An application of the theory is the loftus and Palmer 1974’s research on the theory led to the introduction of the
delvin report 1976 this meant that due to the inaccuracy of eyewitness testimony nobody could be prosecuted on the base of one eyewitness testimony
this is still used today showing the impact of research into post-event information Theory on the legal system
Another application is that Loftus this is research into inaccurate eyewitness testimonies led to geiselman et al 1985
Creating the cognitive interview technique this was used to enhance the accuracy of eyewitness testimonies so that Witnesses can review The Event about the interference of leading questions that distorts their memory
Techniques such as Cues: sounds, smells, feelings etc
Recall the event in various orders even in reverse
Asking the eyewitness to repeat everything that they saw in the event even if it had relatively little perceived importance
Recall the event from different perspectives i.e from several characters at the time
these are still used today showing an application to interviewing techniques that stemmed from research into post event information Theory
PEI IN CRIME EWT YES YES
CROMBAG ET AL +
CROMBAG ET AL
looked at accounts of memorys fir a Boeing 747 crashing inti appartments in Amsterdam
Researchers as participants if they remembered seeing the film clip of the crash
no one had filmed the crash
however 60% said they saw the crash on the TV and gave specific and obscured details of the crash
Best supports the misinformation effect that Witnesses can utterly convince themselves of the memory (in the case of crime possibly the face of the perpetrator) if they do not know where the memory originated from and then therefore would accept it as their own and fact
