EWT: misleading info

• ao1

  Eyewitness testimony refers to the information recalled about a crime by an eyewitness. It can be hindered by post event discusion, a conversation between two cowitneses after a crime and leads to contaminated memory. Also leads to the conformity affect where co-witnesses reach a Conesus veiw on what actually happened . Shown is Gabbert's research where pairs in 1 condition were encouraged to discuss what happened while other pairs weren't those encouraged to discuss 71% went on to mistakenly recall items required.
• paragraph 2

  Leading questions can also hinder EWT because it can influence a persons schema in order for them to give a desired answer and comment's from the interviewer will be incorporated into the recollection of events, especially when children are being interviewed.
• strength: research support that misleading information can affect EWT braun et al

  college students who had visited disney land in the past were asked to evaluate advertising materials. misleading information about Bugs bunney was in their and they were asked to fill out questionnaires about their trip 40% of participants reported seeing or meeting Buggs Bunny which is false.

  k-therefore this shows that providing participants with misleading information can create an inaccurate memory
• strength : real world application

  Another key strength of this area of research is that there are real-world applications for the criminal justice system. Psychological research has now been used to warn the criminal justice system about of problems with EWT. The importance of this has been highlighted by the Innocence Project who claim that 72% of convictions overturned by DNA testing involved incorrect EWT. This shows that this research can improve how the legal system works
• weakness

  One criticism of the effect of misleading information on EWT is that there are individual differences. Anastasi and Rhodes (2006) found that people in the age groups 18-25 and 35-45 were more accurate in their EWT compared to those who were in the 55-78 group. This is because elderly people have a difficulty remembering the source of the information, even though their memory for the event itself is unimpaired. . This suggests that individual differences including age are an important factor when assessing the reliability of EWT.
• weakness : lacks external validity

  Yuille and Cutshall (1986) interviewed 13 people who had witnessed an armed robbery in Canada. The interviews took place more than 4 months after the crime and included two misleading questions. Despite these questions, the witnesses provided accurate recall that matched their initial detailed reports. This suggests misleading information may not affect EWT in real life. This may be as individuals are in a heightened state of arousal and may have a better memory or due to the demand characteristics that exist in such research.