Misleading information: leading questions Flashcards
(17 cards)
What is a leading question?
A leading question is a question that wrongly implies something about an event of a crime e.g what colour was the youth’s jacket implies the perpatrator was a youth
How do leading questions affect the accuracy of EWT?
Information that is implied in the question contaminates the witness’ memory and therefore witnesses recall inaccurate information
What was the aim of Loftus and Palmer’s research?
To investigate whether the phrasing of a question can affect the participants memory of an event
What was the sample of Loftus and Palmer’s research?
45 American students
What were ppts shown?
All ppts were shown a video of a car crash and each group was asked a leading question with a different verb
What were the 5 verbs ppts were asked questions with?
Smashed, hit, collided, bumped or contacted
What did Loftus and Palmer measure?
Speed estimates in MPH
What did L and P find?
Ppts guessed a higher mean speed when they had ‘smashed’ (40.5mph) compared to contacted (31.8mph)
What was the conclusion of Loftus and Palmer’s study?
The phrasing of a question can influence a ppts memory of an event
What is a stregth of research into the effects of leading questions?
It has led to practical applications
The principles of the theory that…
leading questions can have a negative influence on the accuracy of EWT has led to improvements in the criminal justice system and the development of the cog interview
What does the cog interview avoid?
It avoids the use of leading questions and uses open questions such as “recall everything about the event” to trigger as many details as possible
Why is research into the effects of leading q’s on the accuracy of EWT an important part of applied psych?
It provides more accurate eyewitness testimonies which increases the credibilty of misleading info
How can research into misleading info have a positive impact on the economy?
If witness statements are more accurate this could lead to a quicker conviction meaning less taxpayers money is spent on interviews
What is a criticism of research into the effects of leading questions?
It lacks mundane realism
Why does research into the effects of leading questions lack mundane realism?
Artificial task of watching a video of a car crash
Why is lack of mundane realism a weakness?
It makes it difficult to generalise the findings of research into leading questions on the accuracy of real life EWT as in real events, witnesses will have hightened emotions e.g high anxiety which could lower accuracy of EWT
