External factors affecting accuracy of EWT

• What is eye witness testimony (EWT)


  Ability of people to remember details of an event they observed
• what are leading questions as apart of external factors on EWT

  Question phrased certain way to suggest certain answer: ‘was the knife in his left hand’.
• research on leading questions for external factors of EWT

  watch same clip of car crash, ask ‘speed of car when … into each other’ using different verb: smash,hit,bump,collided, contacted. Found more violent verb had higher estimate (smash= 40.5, contacted= 31.8). because response bias > wording doesnt affect memory but affects how they answere > substitution = wording changes memory (people more likely to report glass in smashed group)
• What is post event discussion (PED) as an external factor affecting EWT

  When more than one witness discusses event, affecting accuracy
• Research on PET as an external factor affecting EWT

  Pairs watched same crime from different view then discussed, found 71% people mistakenly recalled aspects they didn't see but heard in discussion, control group 0%.

  Because contamination is where discussion leads to people combining each other’s memories. conformity is going along with others but real memory is unchanged
• What is a strength of external factors affecting EWT

  Real world application, important uses in justice system > we know how much misleading info affects EWT so know to be careful with it
• What is a weakness of external factors affecting EWT

  Demand characteristics of leading questions car study > it was fake > no anxiety factor so people could lie > lack ecological validity
• What is a weakness of external factors affecting EWT

  Substitution, in leading questions some parts more accurately recalled: central details rather than peripheral details > only non important info gets affected
• What is a weakness of external factors affecting EWT

  Research goes against conformity explanation of PED saying it does alter EWT. Mugger hair study was 2 people watching video of man with different color hair > after PED they blended both colors together which doesnt support conformity