Eye Witness Testimony Flashcards
(38 cards)
What are schemas?
Used to ‘fill in the gaps’ in our knowledge by simplifying the processing of information?
What are 2 factors affecting EWT?
Schemas + misleading information
What are two examples of misleading information?
Leading questions, post-event discussion
What are leading questions?
Questions that increase the likelihood that an individual’s schemas will influence them to give a desired answer
What is post-event discussion?
Misleading information being added to am memory after this event has occurred, with research indicating that false memories can be stimulated by misleading post-event experiences
What study is used for leading questions?
Loftus & Palmer (1974)
Who took part in L&P’s 1st study?
45 American students
What was the procedure of L&P’s 1st study?
Lab experiment with 5 conditions, each participants watched 7 films of traffic incidents. After watching the film, each participant was asked how fast the car was going.
What were the 5 conditions of L&P’s 1st study?
“How fast were the cars going when they (smashed/collided/bumped/hit/contacted) each other?”
What were the findings of L&P’s 1st study?
The pps in the ‘smashed’ condition reported the highest speed (40.8mph) followed by ‘collided’, ‘bumped’. ‘hit’, ‘contacted’.
What were the 2 explanations for the findings of L&P’s 1st study?
Response-bias factors = This misleading information provided may have influenced the answer, but didn’t actually lead to a false memory of the event
Memory is altered = The verb changes a person’s perception of the accident, which is then stored in memory of the event
Who took part in L&P’s 2nd study?
150 American students
What was the procedure of L&P’s 2nd study?
Pps were shown a one-minute film about a car driving followed by 4 seconds of a multiple traffic accident. A week later, pps were asked 3 conditions of questions about the film, and were then asked “Did you see any broken glass?” as one of 10 questions, when there was no glass in the video.
What were the 3 conditions of L&P’s 2nd study?
50 were asked: ‘hit’
50 were asked: ‘smashed’
50 were not asked speed (control group)
What were the findings of L&P’s 2nd study?
Smashed = 16 ‘saw’ glass
Hit = 7 ‘saw’ glass
Control = 6 ‘saw’ glass
What is a strength of L&P’s studies?
Applications = The study has important implication for the questions used in police interviews of eyewitnesses.
What are some limitations of L&P’s studies?
Culture bias = Experiment took place in America, where people can start driving at 16, so pps are more likely to have experience
Ecological Validity = Watching a video of a crime taking place doesn’t replicate context clues, as real-world witnesses may have consequences
What is the name of the theory of the relationship between anxiety and performance?
Yerkes-Dodson Inverted-U Hypothesis (IUH)
What does Yerkes-Dodson’s IUH propose?
That moderate amounts of anxiety as improving the details and accuracy of memory recall up to an optimal, which once reached, declines rapidly.
What is the weapon focus effect?
The idea that if a weapon is present, witnesses focus on the weapon more than other important features of a situation, supporting the idea that anxiety can divert attention.
What study is used to support weapon focus effect?
Loftus et al (1987)
Who took part in Loftus et al’s study?
36 students from University of Washington, aged 18-31
What was the procedure of Loftus et al’s study?
2 conditions of 18 slides, both showed a group of people moving through a queue. Participants were then given a line up of 12 photos, asked to identify the second person in the queue, and asked on a scale of 1-6 how confident they are in their identification
What were the 2 conditions in Loftus et al’s study?
Experimental = Person B pulled out a gun
Control = Person B took out a cheque to hand to cashier
