Post-event information influencing EWT reliability Flashcards
What is a post-event discussion?
A conversation between co-witnesses or a police interviewer after a crime/accident that has taken place which may contaminate a witness’ memory of the event
Define ‘misinformation acceptance’.
When people accept misleading information after an event and assimilate it into their memory - a term coined by Loftus
How can post-event discussions impact EWT accuracy? (2 points)
The information presented to a witness between the event and recall/trial may confabulate the memory with their schemas - gives them an expectation/interpretation of how something took place
‘Misinformation acceptance’ is likely to occur, especially if the original event was unfamiliar to them and needs rationalising
What are the 4 supporting and 2 refuting arguments for post-event discussions impacting EWT accuracy?
Supporting:
Loftus & Palmer (1974) Experiment 2
Loftus, Miller & Burns (1978)
Gabbert et al (2003)
Cognitive Interview
Refuting:
Stress & Weapon focus
Yuille & Cutshall (1986)
How does Loftus & Palmer (1974) Experiment 2 support post-event discussions impacting EWT accuracy? (5 points)
Pps were questioned about a film of a car
traffic accident - ‘How fast were the cars going when they _____ each other?
Only 3 conditions - Smashed, Hit and a control group (no question)
A week later, they answered a questionnaire with a critical question – ‘Did you see any broken glass – yes or no?’
More people in the smashed condition remembered broken glass - no broken glass in reality
False memories can be made
How does Loftus, Miller & Burns (1978) support post-event discussions impacting EWT accuracy? (4 points)
Showed participants several slides of a car at a junction and then questioned them about the scene
- either asked if they saw ‘a’ stop sign or ‘the’ stop sign’
Loftus et al found that those asked about ‘the stop sign’ were more likely to remember it than the other group - the use of the definite article seems to assure people
This supports Loftus’ idea of ‘misinformation acceptance’ - the manipulation of past event recollection by misguidance following it
The more time between seeing the film and being asked about what they saw, the more open people were to the effect of post-event misinformation - their memories were altered to include the misinformation
How does Gabbert et al (2003) support post-event discussions impacting EWT accuracy? (3 points)
Participants were in pairs and each partner watched a different video of the same event so that they each saw unique items
IV: Whether the pair were encouraged to discuss the event before individually recalling what they saw or not
71% of witnesses in the Discussion condition mistakenly recalled items acquired during the discussion - 0% of control group did this
How does the Cognitive Interview support post-event discussions impacting EWT accuracy? (2 points)
In the component of Free recall / Report everything, leading and closed questions are avoided
This reduces misinformation confabulating witness accounts from post-event discussions of a police interview
How does stress & weapon focus refute post-event discussions impacting EWT accuracy? (3 points)
Stress and/or weapon focus could be an alternate explanation for EWT inaccuracy
Stress – weapon being present creates an optimum level of arousal which hinders the witness’s ability to recall peripheral details of the crime
Weapon focus – the focus of attention on an unusual weapon being present diminishes the capacity of a witness to encode other peripheries (tunnel theory)
How does Yuille and Cutshall refute post-event discussions impacting EWT accuracy? (4 points)
A shooting occurred outside a gun shop in Canada - a thief stole guns and money but was shot six times and died
The police interviewed witnesses, and 13 of them were re-interviewed 3-5 months later - recall was found to be still accurate, even with 2 misleading questions being inserted by the research team
Demonstrates that there are cases of real-life recall where memory for an anxious/stressful event is accurate, even some months later
Misleading questions need not have the same effect as has been found in laboratory studies (e.g., Loftus & Palmer)
