Accuracy of eyewitness testimony - Misleading Information

• Key Study - Misleading information on accuracy of eyewitness testimony ( Experiment 1 ):

  • Loftus & Palmer (1974)
  • 45 participants split into 5 groups
  • Shown a clip of a car accident and asked "How fast were the cars going when they '_' into each other?"
  • Verbs were smashed, collided, hit, bumped or contacted
  • Pts given smashed gave an average speed of 40.8, pts given contacted said 31.8
  • Demonstrates how leading questions affects the response
• Key Study - Misleading information on accuracy of eyewitness testimony (Experiment 2 ) :

  • Loftus & Palmer (1974)
  • Aim: to find out if leading questions bias a participant's response or actually cause information to be altered before it's stored
  • 150 participants split into 3 groups shown a clip of a car accident
  • Same as first experiment, verbs used were hit & smashed, & also a control group
  • A week later, participants were asked if there was any broken glass
  • From the smashed group, 16 said yes. In the hit group, 7 people said yes
  • Leading questions change the actual memory
• Types of misleading information:

  • Leading questions
  • Post-event discussion
• Post event discussion affect accuracy of eyewitness testimony:

  Post event discussion may contaminate eyewitness memory of an event

  Conformity effect - participants recollection influenced by discussion with others

  Repeat interviewing - each time a witness is interviewed there is the possibility that the interviewer may use leading questions or their comments affect their recollection
• Accuracy of eyewitness testimony - misleading information AO3:

  • ✅ Real world application - highlights problems of eyewitnesses as evidence. Is the largest factor contributing to false convictions
  • ❌ Individual differences - elderly people are more likely to be affected by misleading information
  • ❌ Artificial - in real life, responses are more accurate as participants are emotionally aroused & take it seriously - lack of ecological validity
• Accuracy of eyewitness testimony - misleading information AO3:

  • ✅ Real world application
  • ❌ Individual differences
  • ❌ Artificial