Memory: Eyewitness Testimony (EWT) Flashcards
What is EWT
- evidence provided by people who witness a crime / event.
-> relies on recall from memory.
-> witnesses are often inaccurate in recollection of events.
Explain how EWT can be affected by misleading info (Loftus + Palmer)
- Loftus and Palmer used leading questions where a certain answer is implied in the next question.
-> E.g. ‘how much will prices go up next year?’ implies prices WILL go up.
Explain experiment 1 of Loftus and Palmer’s study on EWT
- Method: ppts are shown a film of a multiple crash.
-> asked questions like ‘how fast were the cars going when they hit’
-> in different conditions, word ‘hit’ was replaced with ‘smashed’, ‘collided’, ‘bumped’ or ‘contacted’. - Results: ppts that were given the word ‘smashed’ give highest speed estimate (avg of 41mph).
-> those given ‘contacted’, gave the lowest estimate. - Conclusion: leading questions can affect accuracy of an event.
Explain experiment 2 of Loftus and Palmer’s study on EWT
- Method: ppts were split in 3 groups: one group was given the word ‘smashed’.
-> another ‘hit’ and the 3rd wasn’t given any indication of speed.
-> ppts were then asked ‘did you see any broken glass’. - Results: ppts with ‘smashed’ condition likely to say they saw broken glass, despite there being none.
- Conclusion: leading questions can affect accuracy of an event.
Evaluate Loftus and Palmer’s study on EWT
(+) Implications for questions in police interviews.
(-) Artificial experiment -> watching a vid is not as emotionally arousing as a real-life event.
-> in a later study: those who witnessed a REAL robbery gave a more accurate description of the robber.
-> Demand characteristic -> leading questions may have given clues about the nature of the experiment -> ppts may have just acted accordingly.
-> this reduces the validity/reliability of the experiment.
Explain Loftus and Zanini’s study on leading questions
- Method: lab study -> people were shown a film of a car crush.
- Asked if they saw ‘THE broken headlight’ or ‘A broken headlight’.
-> no broken headlight was shown. - Results: 17% asked about ‘the’ headlight claimed they saw one.
- Only 7% asked ‘A’ headlight also saw one.
- Conclusion: Simple use of ‘the’ was enough to affect the accuracy of an event.
Evaluate Loftus and Zanini’s study on leading questions
(+) real life implications for EWT.
(+) lab study -> control of extraneous variables.
-> possible to establish CAUSE AND EFFECT.
(-) Artificial (film), so lacked ecological validity.
Explain Shaw’s study on post-event discussion
- found that misleading post-event info can affect recall.
- ppts paired with a confederate.
- pairs were shown videos of a staged robbery and were interviewed together afterwards.
-> participant and confederate alternated who answered the questions first. - when the ppt responded 1st = 58% accuracy.
- when the con answered 1st and gave incorrectly = 42% accuracy from ppt.
Explain Gabbert’s study on post-event discussion
- if misleading info is received through convo, effects can be bigger.
- 2 groups of ppts: young adults and older adults.
- Both groups watched a staged crime and were exposed to misleading info through:
- convo with con
OR - reading a written report.
- both groups were more likely to be inaccurate after a convo with a con then after reading the report.
Explain Valentine and Coxen’s study on the effect of age on EWT.
- method: 3 groups (children, young adults and elderly) watched a video of a kidnapping.
- results: both the elderly and children give more incorrect answers to non-leading questions.
- children were misled more by leading questions than adults or elderly.
- conclusion: age has an effect on the accuracy of EWT.
Evaluate Valentine and Coxen’s study on the effect of age on EWT
(+) Had implications in law when children/elderly are questioned.
(-) an artificial experiment -> lacks ecological validity.
(-) many only show strength of memory from things on TV rather than the accuracy of memories in real-life.
Explain the effects of anxiety on EWT
- small increases in anxiety may increase accuracy.
-> high levels, however, have a negative effect. - in violent crimes (high anxiety), the witness may focus on the central details (e.g. the weapon) and neglect others (e.g. what they were wearing).
explain Loftus’s study on weapon focus in EWT
- method: independent groups design -> ppts hear a discussion in a nearby room.
- condition 1: man comes out of a room with pen and grease on his hands.
- condition 2: man with knife covered in blood.
- ppts were asked to identify the man from 50 photos.
- results: condition 1 = 49% accuracy.
condition 2 = 33% accuracy. - conclusion = when anxious / aroused, they focused on the weapon at the expense of other details.
Evaluate Loftus’s study on weapon focus in EWT
(+) High ecological validity -> ppts unaware of staged study.
(-) ethics -> may have caused lots of distress.
Explain Yuille and Cutshall’s study on EWT
- SHOWED MISLEADING Qs AND ANXIETY DON’T ALWAYS AFFECT EWT.
- field study -> witnesses of a real gun shooting had very accurate memories of the event.
- thief was killed by the police -> 13 witnesses were reinterviewed 5 months later.
-> recall was found to be highly accurate even after 5 months. - 2 misleading questions were asked -> had no effect on the subject’s answers.
