Yuille and Cutshall (1986)

Question 0

How is the Yuille and Cutshall 1986 study different to Loftus and Palmer’s 1974 study?

Answer 0

Y and C study is a field study because it looks at what happened in a natural setting.
L and P study is a laboratory setting.

Question 1

What the Yuille and Cutshall study about?

Answer 1

It was a study interviewing real witnesses of a real crime.

Question 2

What research method was used in Yuille and Cutshall’s 1986 study?

Answer 2

The experiment used a case study as it looks at a particular crime in detail. However, data was gathered by interview.

Question 3

What is the purpose of field observation in regards to generalisability?

Answer 3

Field observations are required to help generalise laboratory findings.

Question 4

What did Malpass and Devine 1981 conclude?

Answer 4

They concluded with a suggestion that there was a need to know that laboratory findings could be generalised to more realistic situations.

Question 5

What is an aim of the Yuille and Cutshall 1986 study?

Answer 5

An aim of the Yuille and Cutshall 1986 study was to record and evaluate witness accounts.

Question 6

What is another aim of the Yuille and Cutshall 1986 study?

Answer 6

Another aim of the Yuille and Cutshall 1986 study was to look at verbatim accounts made by witnesses. Also to look at their accuracy and the kind of errors made.

Question 7

What does research show about memory overtime?

Answer 7

Research shows that loss and distortion of memory takes place overtime.

Question 8

What was the idea of the study in regards to memory?

Answer 8

The idea of the study was to look at eyewitness interviews immediately after the event.

Question 9

Who conducted the eyewitness interviews which took place immediately after the event?

Answer 9

A police officer conducted the eyewitness interviews which took place immediately after the event.

Question 10

What were the eyewitness interviews, which were conducted by a police officer, compared with?

Answer 10

The eyewitness interviews conducted by a police officer were compared with interviews carried out by research staff.

Question 11

Why were misleading questions incorporated into the research interviews?

Answer 11

To see how an eyewitness might be affected by distortion.

Question 12

During the procedure, how many people witnesses the gun shooting?

Answer 12

21

Question 13

How many witnesses were interviewed by the police after the incident?

Answer 13

21

Question 14

How many witnesses were contacted by the research team?

Answer 14

20

Question 15

How many witnesses agreed to take part in the research interview?

Answer 15

13

Question 16

When the police interviewed the witnesses, how was the information recorded?

Answer 16

The police recorded the interviews by hand.

Question 17

During the interview procedure, what were the witnesses asked to describe?

Answer 17

Each witness was asked to describe the event in their own words.
The officer then asked a series of questions to amplify what had been said.

Question 18

When were the 13 witnesses interviewed again?

Answer 18

About 4 or 5 months later

Question 19

What happened 4/5 months later?

Answer 19

13 of the witnesses were interviewed by the researchers.

Question 20

How were the interviews recorded?

Answer 20

On audiotape and transcribed.

Question 21

How many misleading questions were incorporated?

Answer 21

2

Question 22

What did one of the misleading questions involve?

Answer 22

A headlight in the thief’s car

Question 23

What were half of the witnesses asked?

Answer 23

Half of the witnesses were asked if they had seen ‘a’ busted headlight.

Question 24

What were the other half of the witnesses asked?

Answer 24

The other half of the witnesses were asked if they had seen ‘the’ busted headlight.

Question 25

Who’s procedure was it to ask about ‘the’ busted headlight?

Answer 25

This was Loftus’ procedure.

Question 26

Was there a broke headlight?

Answer 26

There was no broken headlight.

Question 27

What was the second misleading question about?

Answer 27

The second misleading question was about the colour of the quarter panel of the car.

Question 28

What were half of the witnesses asked in regards to the quarter panel?

Answer 28

Half were asked about ‘the’ yellow quarter panel.

Question 29

What were the other half of the witnesses asked in regards to the quarter panel?

Answer 29

The other half were asked about ‘a’ quarter panel.

Question 30

What was the actual colour of the quarter panel?

Answer 30

The off-colour quarter panel was infact blue.

Question 31

What else the interview ask?

Answer 31

It also asked about the degree of stress each witness experienced at the time of the accident.

Question 32

How was the level of stress measured?

Answer 32

Through the use of a 7-point scale, with 1 being perfectly calm and 7 being extremely anxious.

Question 33

What were the witnesses asked in regards to emotional state?

Answer 33

They were asked about their emotional state before the incident and any problems afterwards, like sleeplessness.

Question 34

Why did a careful scoring procedure have to be used?

Answer 34

Because details had to be compared.

For example, details from the research interviews had to be compared with details from the police interviews.

Question 35

Were there any difficulties with the scoring?

Answer 35

Yes. For example, “he looked like he was in his early 20’s” was scored as incorrect. This is because even though he did look like he was in his early 20s, he was actually 35.

Question 36

In the results, how many of the 13 witnesses were central witnesses?

Answer 36

7

Question 37

In the results, how many of the 13 witnesses were peripheral witnesses?

Answer 37

6

Question 38

Which of the two groups was more accurate?

Answer 38

Both groups were equally accurate

Question 39

What percentage of the central witnesses in the police interviews were accurate?

Answer 39

84.56% of the central witnesses were accurate

Question 40

What percentage of the peripheral group in the police interviews were accurate?

Answer 40

79.31% of the peripheral group were accurate.

Question 41

What was the accuracy level 4/5 months after?

Answer 41

It remained similar and high for most of the witnesses.

Errors were relatively rare.

Question 42

What effect did the misleading information have on the answers given?

Answer 42

The misleading information had little effect on the answers

Question 43

How many witnesses said there was no broken headlight or no yellow quarter panel or said they had not noticed the detail?

Answer 43

10

Question 44

What did the conclusions state about the accuracy of eyewitnesses?

Answer 44

It was concluded that the findings showed that eyewitnesses are not incorrect in their accounts, as the lab studies suggested.

Question 45

How long did the witnesses remain accurate for?

Answer 45

Most of the witnesses were extremely accurate and remained so up to 5 months after the incident.

Question 46

What is a possibility as to why witnesses accounts remained accurate for up to 5 months?

Answer 46

Maybe because the incident was memorable and unusual.

Question 47

What kind of memory did the researchers believe they may have been investigating?

Answer 47

Flashbulb memory

Question 48

What is flashbulb memory?

Answer 48

When a specific and relevant event is recorded in great detail in the memory.

Question 49

Who were found to remember more?

Answer 49

Those who were directly involved in the event.

Question 50

Why could it be that these findings are different from lab study findings?

Answer 50

Because lab studies would not capture the direct involvement of the witnesses

Question 51

What was the conclusion regarding stress?

Answer 51

It was found that, in general, stress did not affect memory negatively.

Question 52

What was felt more by the witnesses? Adrenaline or stress?

Answer 52

The researchers found that witnesses at the time felt more adrenaline and then stress came later.

Question 53

Why do judges sometimes reject a witness account?

Answer 53

Because of some incorrect detail.

Question 54

What did Yuille +& Cutshall say about some incorrect detail?

Answer 54

They stated that although some details may be wrong (such as colour of the blanket) that doesn’t make other details wrong.

Question 55

What is a strength of the Yuille and Cutshall 1986 study?

Answer 55

It has validity that lab experiments do not have because it is a fired study which looks at a real incident with real witnesses.

Question 56

What is another strength of the Yuille and Cutshall 1986 study?

Answer 56

The findings are reliable because the researchers were careful when counting details from the real incident to make sure that the witness testimonies didn’t alter what ‘really’ happened.

Question 57

What is a strength of the Yuille and Cutshall 1986 study?

Answer 57

It is difficult to generalise from this even due to its uniqueness. Researchers themselves suggest this could be a case of flashbulb memory. This is a type of memory that is different from what is studied in the laboratory. Therefore generalising the findings and using them as a critic for lab studies may be unfair.

Question 58

What is another weakness of the Yuille and Cutshall 1986 study?

Answer 58

There is a mild lack of reliability as scoring turns qualitative data into quantitative data. When doing this, there is always the chance of interpretation and bias.

Question 59

What were the witnesses asked to do during the interview?

Answer 59

Each witness was asked to describe the event in their own terms.

Question 60

Why did the officer ask a series of questions?

Answer 60

To amplify what had already been said.