misleading information

• what is eyewitness testimony

  the ability of people to remember the details of events, such as accidents or crimes, which they have observed
• factors that affect eyewitness testimony

  misleading information

  anxiety
• what is misleading information

  incorrect information given to an eyewitness usually after the event
• what are leading questions

  a question which, due to its wording, suggests a certain answer

  e.g. was the man wearing a blue hat
• why are leading questions a problem

  they are an issue for eyewitness testimony because the police questions may direct a witness to give a particular answer
• who researched leading questions

  Loftus and Palmer 1974
• procedure of Loftus and Palmer

  arranged 45 students yo watch clips of car accidents and then asked them questions about the incident

  there were five groups of participants and each group was given a different verb in the critical question
• leading question used by Loftus and Palmer

  'about how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?'
• the five verbs used in the critical question

  hit, contacted, bumped, collided and smashed
• the findings of Loftus and Palmer

  contacted had lowest mean estimated speed

  smashed had highest mean estimated speed

  contacted= mean estimated speed of 31.8mph

  smashed= mean estimated speed of 40.5 mph
• why do leading questions affect EWT

  the wording of the question has no real effect on the participants memory but just influences how they decide to answer
• Loftus and Palmer second experiment findings

  the word a leading question changes the participants memory of the film clip

  participants who originally heard smashed were more likely to report seeing broken glass when if there was none

  the critical verb altered their memory
• what is post event discussion

  when witness of an event may have discussed what they have seen when others who also witnessed it
• who research post-event discussion

  Gabbert et al (2003)
• procedure of Gabbert et al

  studied participants in pairs

  all pairs watched the same crime but each participant in the pair watched it from different angles

  both participants then discussed what they had seen individually completed a test of recall
• findings of Gabbet et al

  71%= mistakenly recalled aspects of the vent that they did not see in the video

  0% = misinformation picked up by control group
• why does post event discussion effect EWT

  memory contamination

  memory conformity
• what is memory contamination

  when co-witnesses discuss the crime, EWT may become altered or distorted

  they combine information from other witnesses with their own memories
• what is memory conformity

  witnesses often go along with each other, either to win social approval or because they believe the other witnesses are right

  the actual memory is unchanged
• strengths of research into misleading information

  real world application- can be used in CJS and to improve it
• limitations of research in misleading information

  artificial research

  individual differences not considered

  demand characteristics