factors affecting accuracy of EWT - misleading information

• what is eye witness testimony?

  the ability of people to remember the details of events, such as accidents and crimes, which they themselves have observed
• what two factors affect the accuracy of EWT?

  misleading information

  anxiety
• what is misleading information?

  incorrect information given to the eyewitness, usually after the event - includes leading questions and post event discussion
• what is a leading question?

  a question which, because of the way it is phrased, suggests a certain answer
• who conducted research into leading questions affect on EWT?

  Loftus + Palmer
• what was the procedure?

  .45 participants watched films clips of car accidents and asked questions on what they saw

  . the leading question was: about how fast were the cars going when the hit each other? --> verb 'hit' was changed across the 5 different groups: contacted, bumped, collided, smashed
• what were the findings?

  the mean estimated speed was calculated

  - contacted - mean speed was 31.8 mph

  - smashed - mean speed was 40.5 mph

  shows that the leading question biased EWT recall of the event
• how does the response-bias explanation explain how leading questions affect EWT?

  suggests that the leading question has no real effect on a eye-witnesses memory but influences how they answer - when participants heard smashed, it encourages them to choose a higher speed
• how does the substitution explanation explain how leading questions affect EWT?

  suggests the wording of the question alters the participants memory - participants who heard smashed were more likely to report broken glass (there was none) than those who heard hit
• what is post-event discussion?

  occurs when there is more than one witness to an event, and they discuss what they have seen + what they say influences the accuracy of each witness's recall of the event
• who conducted research into post event discussions affect on EWT?

  Gabbert
• what was the procedure?


  - participants in pairs

  - each participant watched a video of the same crime but from a different point of view so each participant could see aspects their partner couldn't
• what were the findings?

  71% of participants reported aspects they didn't see in the video but picked up in discussion

  control group - 0%
• how does memory contamination explain how post event discussion affects EWT?

  when witnesses discuss the event their memories become altered/distorted --> combine (mis)information from other witnesses with their own memories after discussion
• how does memory conformity explain how post event discussion affects EWT?

  witnesses go along with each other to win social approval or because they think the other person is right and they are wrong --> memory is unchanged