Leading Questions

• What is Response-Bias Explanation?

  Wording of a question has no effect enduring effect on an eyewitness's memory of an event, but influences the kind of answer given
• What is Substitution Explanation?

  Wording of a question does affect eyewitness memory; it interferes with its original memory, distorting its accuracy,
• How does Loftus and Palmer support Misleading Information?

  There were 5 groups of participants, each given a different verb in the critical question:

  • Hit
  • Contacted
  • Bumbed
  • Collided
  • Smashed
• What were Loftus and Palmer find?

  • Smashed - 40.8%
  • Collided - 39.3%
  • Bumped - 38.1%
  • Hit - 34.0%
  • Contacted - 31.8%

  Simon Cowell Bit His Cat
• EVALUATION- STRENGTH

  P: It has important practical uses in real life in the criminal justice system. 

  E: For example, psychologists are often used as expert witnesses in court trials to explain the limits of EWT to juries so that juries are not overly reliant on a potentially inaccurate EWT. 

  C: This shows that psychology can help to improve the way the legal system works protecting innocent people from faulty convictions therefore improving quality of life of these people and that the theory is useful in the real world.
• EVALUATION - STRENGTH

  P:  Is that lab experiments are well controlled and easy to replicate.

  E: When an experiment is done in a lab, because it is in a controlled environment, misleading information from the DV are easier to measure which helps in validating the reliability of the research. As it is done in a lab it can be easily replicated as well by other researchers.

  C: In conclusion, this supports research into misleading information has high validity as it's accuracy can be measured and replicated by others.
• EVALUATION - DISADVANTAGE

  P: Is that there are differences amongst people that cannot be recorded/evaluated.

  E: Lindsay found that witnesses often gather their version of events from two sources- witnessing the event and from subsequent suggestions. Also Lindsay states that elderly people are more likely to be affected by misleading information.

  C: Therefore, the version of events that is heard from witnesses could vary as the could be versions that did not occur but due to suggestions they believe it occurred causing the original version of events in their memory to be altered.