Accuracy of EWT (misleading info)

• Misleading information

  Before an eyewitness is asked to recall what happened, they are exposed to incorrect information.
• Leading questions 


  Questions which prompt or encourage an answer that is wanted by the person asking the question.
• Post-event discussion 


  Witnesses of the same event discuss the details of a crime after it has occurred.
• Memory contamination 


  Memories become altered or distorted because they combine information from other witnesses with their own memories.
• Memory conformity 


  Witnesses go along with each other to win social approval or because they think the others are right.
• Loftus and Palmer 1974 Experiment


  A classic study on the effects of leading questions on eyewitness testimony, demonstrating how suggestion can alter participants' descriptions of an event.
• Loftus and Palmer 1974 Experiment: Results


  Participants' descriptions of the accident varied significantly based on the type of question asked, with more leading questions leading to more vivid and detailed (often inaccurate) descriptions.
• Response bias


  The question affects our answer but leaves the memory in tact.
• Substitution bias 


  The question alters our memory.
• Eyewitness Testimony


  Someone who has seen something happen, often in relation to crime, and can give a first-hand description of it.