Misleading information

• What is eyewitness testimony

  Evidence used in court concerning the identity of someone who has committed a crime
• What are the 2 explanations for the influence of leading questions

  • Response bias explanation
  • Substitution explanation
• What is response bias

  Wording of the question has no real effect on the participants memories but changes the wording of their answer
• Substitution explanation

  Wording of the leading question changes the participants memory for the event
• Explain the method in loftus and palmer (1974) experiment 1

  • 45 ppts were shown a film with a car crash
  • Pots were divided into 5 conditions and asked how fast the cars were going when they : contacted/bumped/smashed/collided or hit each other.
• What were the results of loftus and palmer experiment 1

  • Contacted - 32 mph
  • Smashed- 41 mph
• justification for loftus and palmer 1

  this study supports the response bias explanation as it suggests that when a participant gets a leading question it alters their answer but doesn't change their memory of the event
• loftus and palmer experiment 2 procedure

  • 150 ppts divided into 3 groups
  • group 1 - ' how fast were the cars going when they smashed'
  • group 2 -' how fast were the cars going when they hit'
  • group 3 - had no questions about speed
  • a week later all groups were asked ' did you see any broken glass'
• loftus and palmer experiment 2 findings

  • 32% of ppts in smashed condition reported broken glass
  • 14% in hit condition
  • 13% in control
• justification of loftus and palmer experiment 2

  this study suppports the substitution explanation as the verb used altered their memory of the event
• what is post event discussion

  when other witnesses influence what someone thinks occured in the event
• what are the 2 explanations for post event discussion

  • memory contamination
  • memory conformity
• memory contamination

  when co witnesses discuss the event with each other, memory is altered as they combine their own and others information
• memory conformity

  witnesses may go along with other people for social approval (normative social influence) or because they believe other witnesses have better information than they do ( informational social influence)
• gabbert et al. 2003 procedure

  • ppts watched a video of a crime in pairs
  • each person watched the crime from a different perspective so each ppt could see elements in the event that others could not see
  • ppts then discussed what they had seen before individually completing a test of recall
• findings of gabbert et al. 2003

  • 71% of ppts mistakenly recalled aspects of the event that they could not have seen in the video but had picked up in the discussion
  • 0% in a control group where there was no discussion
• justification of gabbert et al. 2003

  this supports memory conformity as the witnesses appeared to go along with what others said due to either NSI or ISI
• Name 2 methological issues for post event discussion

  • lab studies lack ecological validity
  • demand characteristics
• what is an example of a practical application for post event discussions

  knowing how to interview to get an accurate eyewitness testimony - cognitive interviews
• what is misleading information

  • incorrect information that an eyewitness is given after an event
  • includes leading questions and post event discussion
• what are leading questions

  questions that are phrased in a certain way, triggering a particular response
• Name the advantages for misleading information

  • real world applications in the criminal justice system trhough eyewitness testimonys
  • lab studies allow for a good control over extraneous variable making it easier to establish cause and effect
• name the disadvantages for misleading information

  • substitution theory - reductionist because the explanation doesn't include any cogntive or biological processes causing the forgetting
  • demand characteristics - zargosa and mcclosley said that ppts want to be more helpful and attentive which causes social desirability bias and enhances the please U effect
  • realism pitfull - watching videos is less emotionally arousing than witnessing and there is evidence suggesting that emotional arousal can increase eyetiness testimony through yerks and dobinsons law