eye witness testimony

Question 1

what are the 2 factors that affect eyewitness testimony

Answer 1

misleading information
(post event discussion, leading questions)

anxiety

Question 2

what is the study that shows how leading question affect eye witness testimony

Answer 2

loftus and palmer
1974

Question 3

explain the procedure of loftus and palmer (1974)

Answer 3

45 participants watched videos of staged car accidents

researchers asked

How fast were the cars going when they ….. each other

Question 4

what were the findings of loftus and palmers study

Answer 4

the more violent the verb used the faster they thought the cars were going

Question 5

how do leading questions affect EWT?

Answer 5

response bias

wording influences how they chose to answer

substitution

wording alters the memory of the incident

Question 6

what is the study that shows how PED has an effect on EWT

Answer 6

Gabbert et al
2003

Question 7

explain the procedure of Gabbert et al’s study

Answer 7

pair of participants watched videos of a crime from different angles

then the participants discussed what they had seen

Question 8

what were the findings of Gabbert et al’s study

Answer 8

71% of participants had incorrectly recalled details they hadn’t seen

Question 9

how does PED affect EWT

Answer 9

memory contamination - the memory of an event is distorted by details from other witnesses when these are combined with the original memory

memory conformity - witnesses may go along with each other to gain social acceptance or because they believe the other accounts are more correct. The memory is unchanged but the reporting is affected

source monitoring - eyewitnesses can recall information about the event but not where it came from. The memory is distorted as the source information is lost

Question 10

outline the study for the negative effects of anxiety on EWT

Answer 10

participants seat in a waiting room

2 different conditions

low anxiety - heard casual conversation
and saw man walk past carrying a pen with grease on his hands

high anxiety - heard heated argument
breaking glass
saw man walk out of room with knife and hands covered in blood

Question 11

why can anxiety have a negative impact on recall

Answer 11

creates physiological arousal in the body which prevents us from paying attention to important cues so recall is worse

Question 12

who carried out the study on how anxiety has a negative impact on EWT

Answer 12

johnson and scott
1976
(how a weapon creates anxiety)

Question 13

what were the findings of jonhson’s and scott’s study 1976

Answer 13

participants later had to pick out the man they saw from a set of 5o photos

49% who saw man carrying pen were able to identify him

33% who saw man carrying knife could identify him

Question 14

what were the conclusions of johnson’s and scott’s study

Answer 14

the tunnel theory of memory argues people have enhanced memory for central events

weapon focus as a result of anxiety can have this effect

Question 15

why can anxiety have a positive effect on recall

Answer 15

the fight or flight response is triggered which increases alertness which may improve memory for the event as we become more aware of cues

Question 16

who conducted the study on anxiety having a positive impact on recall

Answer 16

yuille and cutshall (1986)

Question 17

explain the procedure of yuille and cutshaw’s study

Answer 17

research was on gun shop owner shot a thief dead, there was 21 witnesses to the event

but only 13 agreed to take part in research

these 13 were interviewed 4-15 months after the event and these were compared their interview at the time of the event

accuracy was measured in the number of details they could recall

they were asked how stressed they were at the time of the event and they had to rate this on a 7 point scale

Question 18

what were the findings of yuille and cutshaw’s study

Answer 18

those with the highest levels of stress during the incident had the highest accuracy in recall of details

Question 19

what is the conclusion to yuille and cutshaw’s study

Answer 19

this suggest anxiety doesn’t haven’t effect on the accuracy of EWT but may actually enhance it

Question 20

define anxiety

Answer 20

a state of emotional and physical arousal that can affect the accuracy and detail of EWT

Question 21

in 1998 what did pickle say about johnson and scott’s study

Answer 21

weapons are unusual so Johnson and scott’s study may have been measuring this effect rather than anxiety

Question 22

what was pickle’s research on the effects of anxiety on ewt

Answer 22

hair salon video featuring a handheld item

scissors
high anxiety
low unusualness

wallet
low anxiety
low unusualness

hand gun
high anxiety
high unusualness

raw chicken
low anxiety
high unusualness

Question 23

what were the findings of pickle’s research she conducted in 1998

Answer 23

recall was the worst in unusual situations
so the unusualness of the object is causing poorest recall

so johnson and scott’s study tells us nothing about the effect of anxiety on EWT