Eye Witness Testimony

• What is the definition of a leading question?

  a question that suggests a certain answer because of the way it is worded
• What is meant by misleading information?

  leading questions and post event discussion
• What is the definition of post event discussion?

  occurs when witnesses discuss what they have seen with co-witnesses or other people. this may influence the accuracy of each witnesses recall
• Who investigated the effect of leading questions and when?

  Loftus & Palmer (1974)
• Describe the investigation for leading questions

  PROCEDURE:

  ->45 american uni students were shown 7 video clips of car crashes

  ->after each accident, participant is asked a series of Q's including a critical question (disguised to reduce demand characteristics)

  ->e.g. critical question = "how fast were the cars going when they ..."

  -> blank space was filled with diff verbs of varying severity: contacted, hit, collided, smashed

  ->participants asked to estimate speed of the cars
• What is the evaluation for Loftus & Palmer's study?

  :( lab setting -> artifical -> low mundane realism

  :( biased sample -> L&P's own students -> more prone to demand characteristics -> lower internal validity

  
  

  :) lab setting -> control of variables -> replication possible -> increases internal validity

  :) applications -> shows the importance of avoiding leading questions in court cases + police interviews
• Who investigated post event discussion and when?

  Gabbert et al (2003)
• Describe the investigation for post event discussion

  PROCEDURE:

  -> participants were put in pairs

  -> each participant individually watched a video of the same crime but from different pov's

  -> each participant could see elements of the event that the other couldn't

  -> participants were asked to discuss what they saw before individually completing a recall test
• What were the findings from the post event discussion investigation?

  71% of participants mistakenly recalled aspects of the event that they couldn't see, but their partner could
• What was the conclusion made from the investigation on post event discussion?

  Post event discussion leads to memory conformity (NSI or ISI)
• What were the findings from the leading questions investigation?

  least violent verbs had a lower average speed given to them
• What is the evaluation for the Gabbert et al investigation

  :( may not be due to memory conformity but due to memory contamination -> participant combines the misinformation with their own memory -> genuinely believes they witnessed the misinformation

  :( lab setting -> artificial -> not as emotionally arousing -> strong emotions effect memory

  :) applications: if we know post event discussion can effect EWT: speed up EWT to avoid it (e.g. self administered interview)
• What are the factors affecting the accuracy of EWT?

  anxiety and misleading information
• What is suggested about the effect of anxiety on the accuracy of EWT?

  anxiety increases accuracy = strong emotions affect memory (for the better)

  anxiety decreases accuracy = weapon focus effect distracts us from properly witnessing an event
• Who investigated the effect of anxiety on EWT and when?

  Yuille and Cutshall (1986) - anxiety increases accuracy

  Johnson and Scott (1976) - anxiety decreases accuracy
• Describe Yuille and Cutshall's (1986) investigation on the effect of anxiety on EWT

  -> interviewed 13 real witnesses of a deadly shooting 4 months after the shooting took place

  -> they were scored for:

  1. number of details able to recall
  2. levels of stress on a seven point scale
• What were the findings of Yuille and Cutshall's (1986) investigation?

  most stressed witnesses = 88% accuracy of EWT

  least stressed witnesses = 75% accuracy of EWT

  -> anxiety increases accuracy of EWT
• Describe the Johnson and Scott (1976) investigation on the effect of anxiety on EWT

  -> participants sat outside lab waiting to take place in study, can overhear conversation

  • low anxiety condition = normal conversation about equipment failure then man walks out with greasy hands and pen
  • high anxiety condition = hostile conversation with breaking glass, man walks out carrying knife covered in blood

  -> participants were asked to identify man coming out of lab from a choice of 50 photos
• What were the findings from Johnson & Scott's (1976) investigation?

  low anxiety condition = 49% chose correct photo

  high anxiety condition = 33% chose correct photo

  ->weapon focus effect distracted participants from seeing man's face