Eyewitness testimony: Misleading information (AO1)

Question 1

What are leading questions?

Answer 1

A question that suggests a certain answer due to the way it is phrased (e.g. ‘was the knife in his left hand?’)

Question 2

What are post event discussions?

Answer 2

Witnesses to an event discuss what they have experienced which could affect accuracy of their recall.

Question 3

Who were the two psychologists who did the study on leading questions?

Answer 3

Loftus and Palmer

Question 4

Why do leading questions affect eye witness testimonies?
(hint: 2 reasons)

Answer 4

Due to: response bias and substitution. Response bias: wording of a question may influence the kind of answer given. Substitution: wording of a question affects eyewitness memory and interferes with original memory.

Question 5

Outline the procedure of Loftus and Palmer’s study on leading questions:

Answer 5

45 participants watched film clips of car accidents and answered questions about speed (how fast the cars were going). 5 groups of participants given word: hit, contacted, bumped, collided or smashed.

Question 6

Outline the findings of Loftus and Palmer’s study on leading questions:

Answer 6

Verb ‘contacted’ produced a mean speed of 31.8mph but ‘smashed’ produced 40.5mph. Leading questions biased recall of event- ‘smashed’ suggested a faster speed of car than ‘contacted’.

Question 7

Who was the psychologist who did the study on post event discussion?

Answer 7

Gabbert et al.

Question 8

Outline the procedure of Gabbert’s post event discussion study:

Answer 8

Paired participants watched video of same crime but each participant could see elements in the event that the other couldn’t. They discussed what they saw and completed a test of recall.

Question 9

Outline the findings of Gabbert’s post event discussion study:

Answer 9

71% wrongly recalled aspects of events they didn’t see in the video but heard in the discussion. There was evidence of memory conformity. In the control group, there was no discussion and no subsequent errors.

Question 10

Why does post event information affect EWT (2x reasons)?

Answer 10

Memory contamination and memory conformity. Memory contamination: witnesses discuss a crime and mix information from other witnesses into memory. Memory conformity: witnesses go along with each other to win social approval.