Eyewitness Testimony - Misleading information

Question 1

EWT

Answer 1

The ability of people to remember details of events which they observed themselves. Eyewitness give evidence in courts.

Eyewitness memory goes through 3 stages:

• The witness encodes info into LTM, may be partial as the event occurs quickly at nigh with rapid complex action.
• Witness retains info for a time. Memories may be lost or modified during retention, other activities may interfere with the memory itself
• Witness retrieves memory from storage . There may be a presence or absence of cues that may affect the accuracy of the memory

Question 2

Factors affecting EWT

Answer 2

1. Misleading information - leading questions, post-event discussion
2. Anxiety

Question 3

Misleading Information

Answer 3

MISLEADING INFORMATION

Information received after an event can have a retroactive interfering effect on our recollection. Incoming info gets integrated and confused with our existing knowledge.

Question 4

Why do leading question affect our EWT

Answer 4

• Response biassuggest the wording of the question influences how the ppt decides to answer
• substitution explanationsuggests the wording of the question actually changes the ppts memory

Question 5

LOFTUS AND PALMER EXPERIMENT 1

Answer 5

LOFTUS AND PALMER

wanted to investigate the effects of leading question upon estimates of speed of motor vehices

• EXPERIMENT 1
  
  • ppts shown traffic accidents and had to answer questions after viewing them including a critical question
  • ‘How fast were the cars going when they hit eachother?’
  • The verb was substituted with collided, smashed, bumped and contacted. Those asked the hit question reported speeds 10mph slower than those asked with more aggressive verbs like smashed
    
    • this leading question altered the ppts perception of speed due to the words conveying an impression
    • demonstrates EWT might be biased by the way questions are asked

Question 6

KEY STUDIES

Answer 6

• Loftus and Palmer
• Gabbert

Question 7

LOFTUS AND PALMER EXPERIMENT 2

Answer 7

• EXPERIMENT 2
  
  • ppts shown a traffic accident and we asked the same questions
  • later they were asked if they saw any broken glass, there wasnt any but those asked the speed question with aggressive adjectives were likely to report there was some
  • most answered ‘no’ however the verb used influenced how many ppts said ‘yes’
    
    • this shows how leading questions potentially altered the ppts memory

Question 8

Post event discussion

Answer 8

POST-EVENT DISCUSSION

When co-witnesses to a crime discuss it with one another, their eyewitness testimonies may become contaminated. This is because they combine (mis)information from other witnesses with their own memories.

Question 9

GABBERT

Answer 9

GABBERT

investigating the effects of post-event discussion on eyewitness testimony

• ppts watched one of two videos containing exclusive details
• half allowed to PED (experimental group), other half could not (control group)
• PED = 70% included details not in their own video
• non PED = 0%
  
  • witness/memory conformity - seeking social approval or believing the other witness is correct and you are wrong

Question 10

EVALUATION (3)

Answer 10

EVALUATION

• real life applications
• tasks are artificial
• potential issues relating to demand characteristics

Question 11

EVAL: Real life applications

Answer 11

• Real-life applications
  
  • Loftus believes leading questions can have a distorting effect on memory so police officers need to be very careful with how they phrase questions when interviewing eyewitnesses
  • Consequences of inaccurate EWT can be very serious and psychologists can improve the way the legal system works and by appearing in court trials as expert witnesses

Question 12

EVAL: Tasks are artificial

Answer 12

• Tasks are artificial
  
  • In Loftus and Palmer’s study, the ppts all watched film clips of car accidents. This is very different to witnessing a real car accident as they lack the stress of a real accident.
  • Emotions can have an influence on memory suggested by some evidence (anxiety)
  • Foster points out that EWT can have significant consequences when used in real investigations
  • As these consequences are lacking in simulated research, they argued that it is possible that the ppts didn’t try or concentrate on the tasks as they would have done in real life
  • studies that use artificial tasks may tell us very little about how leading questions affect EWT in cases of real accident

Question 13

EVAL: Potential issues relating to demand characteristics

Answer 13

• Potential issues relating to demand characteristics
  
  • Zaragosa and McCloskey have argued that many of the answers that the ppts give in lab studies investigating EWT may be the result of demand characteristics
  • Ppts may feel an obligation to be helpful during the research possibly due to feeling a sense of respect and deference for the researchers
  • So when they receive a leading question (e.g did you see the broken glass?) they feel a need to answer in the affirmative as they don’t want to be disruptive or awkward
  • Their responses may be ppts trying to be useful rather than their memories being influenced by the leading question
    
    • however Loftus and Palmer did consciously hid the critical question amongst other questions to reduce this possible affect as the ppts would be less likely to guess the true purpose of the research
  • These lab studies may not be measuring what they intend therefore nay lack internal validity