EWT psychologists

Cards (5)

  • Loftus and Palmer
    • 45 students were shown a film of a car crash
    • They were split into five groups, each had a different question
    • One critical question about how fast the car was going, changing the verb each time - smashed, bumped, collided etc
  • Gabbert
    • each participant watched a video of the same crime but from different perspectives
    • Each participant could see elements that others could not, they were allowed to talk before being questioned
    • 71% of participants mistakenly recalled aspects of the event that they did not see, but picked up from discussion
  • Yerkes-Dodson Law
    • The relationship between anxiety and the accuracy of Eyewitness Testimony is an inverted U
    • There is an optimal level of anxiety needed for accurate recall
  • Johnson and Scott
    • Participants believed they were taking part in a lab study, and were split up into a low-anxiety and a high-anxiety situation
    • Low anxiety - participants overheard a casual conversation and witnessed a man walk past holding a pen
    • High-anxiety - participants overheard a heated argument and witnessed a man walk past with a knife covered in blood
    • Recall of the situation was less accurate for participants in high-anxiety situation
  • Yuille and Cutshall
    • Conducted a study of an actual shooting in Vancouver, Canada
    • Participants were interviewed five months later, accuracy of recall was determined by how many details were stated
    • witnesses were also asked how stressed they felt on a 7-point scale
    • Results showed the accuracy of people with the highest stress levels was higher in comparison to the less stressed witnesses