factors affecting EWT

Question 1

eye-witness testimony

Answer 1

the ability of people to remember the details of events, such as accidents and crimes, which they themselves have observed

Question 2

3 factors effecting EWT

Answer 2

• misleading information
• leading questions
• post-event discussion

Question 3

DNA

Answer 3

• if inaccurate EWT is used to convict someone, then a miscarriage of justice can occur
• DNA testing has shown that EWT is inaccurate
• more than 200 americans have now been freed after being detained falsely on the evidence of EWT when DNA testing has shown it was impossible for them to have committed crime
• EWT isn’t always reliable

Question 4

misleading information

Answer 4

• incorrect information given to the eye-witness usually after the event
• it can take many forms such as leading questions and PED

Question 5

Loftus and Palmer

Answer 5

aim: to investigate PED contamination through the use of leading questions
- 150 pts asked to view a 1 min film of a car crash and then
a) describe what happened
b) answer the Qs on the film
- 6 conditions in which pts were asked the question “how fast were the cars going when they..”
- hit, smashed, collided, bumped, contacted the other car
- control group wasn’t asked about speed

Question 6

Loftus and Palmer - results

Answer 6

• the estimated speed was affected by the verb
• smashed = 41mph
• hit = 34mph
• leading questions affected the pts response
• eyewitnesses are highly susceptible to answering according to the language used in the questions that they are asked

Question 7

Loftus and Palmer - stage 2

Answer 7

• a week later pt were asked “did you see any broken glass”, when there was no broken glass present
• of those in ‘smashed, 32% saw broken glass compared with 14% of the ‘hit’ and 12% control
• the way a question is asked influences the answers both immediately
• post-event contamination was clearly evident

Question 8

limitation

Answer 8

• tasks are artificial, film clip of an accident not the real thing
• small sample size

Question 9

Foster et. al

Answer 9

• found that if pts thought they were watching a real life robbery and also thought that their responses would influence the trial, their identification of the robber was more accurate
• issue; means that EWT is not reliable

Question 9

strength: real-life application

Answer 9

• police officers need to avoid the use of leading q’s as they can have a distorting effect on memory
• repeat interviewing could make comments from interviewer become incorporated into witnesses recollection of event - so try to avoid this