AO3: Misleading Information

• Conflicting research: Foster et al (1994)

  P: Not all researchers agree with the conclusion made by Loftus & Palmer.

  E: Foster (1994) found that when the participants thought they were watching a real-life robbery, and also thought that their responses would influence the trial, their identification of the robber was more accurate.
• Conflicting research: Foster et al (1994) (2)

  E: The findings suggest leading questions may have some impact in laboratory settings but in real life other factors (such as arousal, stress, concentration or motivation) may mitigate this and override their effects.

  L: Therefore, perhaps Loftus places too much emphasis on the negative impact leading questions can have on eyewitness accuracy.
• Individual Differences

  P: There is evidence to suggest that some people are more influenced by leading questions than others.

  E: Anastasi & Rhodes (2006) found evidence that older people are less accurate than younger people when giving eyewitnesses reports. In age groups 18-25 and 35-45 were more accurate than people in the group 55-78 years.
• Individual Differences (2)

  E: However, they also found that all age groups were more accurate when identifying people of their own age group (called own age bias). Research studies often use younger people as the target to identify and this may mean that some age groups may appear less accurate but in fact this is not true.

  L:
• Real world application

  P: Despite laboratory studies into misleading information being criticised for their artificial nature, such research findings have been used to warn the justice system of problems with eyewitness identification.

  E: Recent DNA exoneration cases have confirmed the warnings of EWT, as it was found that mistaken eyewitness identification was the single largest factor that led to wrongful convictions of innocent people.
• Real world application (2)

  E: These statistics indicate that eye-witness testimony is relied too heavily upon within the legal system, and witnesses are not as reliable as jurors believe them to be.

  L: Therefore, eye-witness accounts given to the police and jurors should be treated with caution.