Pozzulo

Question 1

What is the psychology investigated by Pozzulo?

Answer 1

• Eyewitness testimony evidence provided by an individual who has seen or heard
  a crime being committed which is used by the legal system and may be considered unreliable.
• False positive responses when an individuals choses a foil/false negative when the target is absent.

Question 2

What are the aims of Pozzulo?

Answer 2

• To identify whether children are less able to recognise human faces than adults.
• If children are able to make more false positive identifications than adults when faced with:
  1. target absent vs present
  2. human vs cartoon

Question 3

What are the 4 hypotheses from Pozzulo’s study?

Answer 3

• Children will be as good as adults in identifying cartoon faces in target present lineups.
• Children would be worse than adults at identifying human faces in target present lineups.
• Children will be worse than adults at rejecting cartoon faces in target absent lineups.
• Children will be worse than adults at rejecting human faces in target absent lineups.

Question 4

What was the research method used in Pozzulo?

Answer 4

Laboratory experiment.

Question 5

What was the experiment design in Pozzulo?

Answer 5

• Independent measures –> comparing data from different people.
• Repeated measures –> comparing different conditions using the same participants.

Question 6

What are the IVs in Pozzulo?

Answer 6

1. Age: child / adult
2. Line-up type: target absent / target present
3. Target faces: human / cartoon

Question 7

What are the DVs in Pozzulo?

Answer 7

Participant’s correct identification and rejection of targets.

Question 8

Describe the sample used in Pozzulo’s study.

Answer 8

Children:
- 59 children.
- Ages 4-7
- From 3 private schools in Eastern Ontario, Canada.
Adults:
- 53 adults
- Ages 17-30
- From the Introductory Psychology Participant pool of an Eastern Ontario University.

Question 9

Explain the procedures before the testing phase in Pozzulo.

Answer 9

• Parents of child participants completed an informed consent form, an 8-item questionnaire and the Demographic and Cartoon Watching Form.
• Were asked how many hours they watch cartoon per week and how much of this time was spent specifically the target cartoon characters used in the study.
• Were asked about their gender, age, primary language, ethnicity and sibling status.
• Adult participants were asked to complete their own paper work and were told its a study on memory.

Question 10

Explain the 4 target face videos.

Answer 10

1. Male cartoon - Diego
2. Female cartoon - Dora
3. Male actor
4. Female actress

Question 11

Describe the video clips.

Answer 11

• 6 second, coloured, voiceless clips featuring a 2 to 3 second close-up of the characters face.
• Dora was speaking to the audience.
• Diego was putting on safety gloves.
• Female actress was brushing her hair.
• Male actor was putting on his coat.

Question 12

Describe the photo-arrays.

Answer 12

• 4 tightly cropped, black and white headshots.
• Consisted of either three or four foils depending on whether it was in the target absent or present condition and a silhouette as a reminder that the target may not be present.

Question 13

What happened in pozzulo’s study after the testing?

Answer 13

• Children were thanked and given gifts of crayons and a colouring book.
• Adults completed the Demographic and Cartoon Watching Form then debriefed and thanked.

Question 14

State the target-present results in Pozzulo’s study.

Answer 14

• Children and adults were significantly better at identifying familiar cartoon characters than human faces. ( 99% : 95%)
• Children performed much worse than adults when identifying human faces. (23% : 66%)

Question 15

State the target-absent results in Pozzulo’s study.

Answer 15

• Children had a significantly higher correct rejection rate when cartoon characters were used compared with human faces. (74% : 45%)
• Adults also performed significantly better with cartoon characters compared to human faces. (94% : 70%).
• Children’s rate of false positive responses was much higher than adults.

Question 16

State the conclusions of Pozzulo’s study.

Answer 16

• Cognitive factors such as faulty memory, are not responsible for the lower success rate of incorrectly rejecting the foils in the target absent lineup.
• Errors must have been due to social factors that are incorrectly assuming that the researchers would prefer them making positive identifications regardless of whether or not they felt it was right.
• Children are less accurate than adults with unfamiliar faces.