EWT- misleading information

• An eyewitness testimony is an account given by people of an event they have witnessed
• misleading information is incorrect info given to an eyewitness usually after the event which can distort what people remember about the event
• leading questions are questions that are phrased in a certain way to suggest a particular answer
• Loftus and Palmer (1974) aimed to investigate the effect of leading questions on the accuracy of eye witness testimonies
• Loftus and Palmer (1974) changed the verb used when asking 45 participants "how fast the car was going when they ... with each other?"
• Loftus and Palmer (1974) found that when the verb "smashed" was used participants said the car was going faster (40.8 mph) than when the verb "contacted" was used (31.8 mph)
• Loftus and Palmer (1974) concluded that the accuracy of an EWT is affected by leading questions
• Loftus and Palmer (1974) asked 150 participants to report if they saw any broken glass in a video of a car crash a week after being asked if they "hit" or "smashed" into one another. There was a control group who did not get asked a question
• Loftus and Palmer (1974) found that those who heard the verb "smashed" more often reported broken glass than the other 2 groups. there was no broken glass
• Loftus and Palmer suggest two explanations for why leading questions affect EWT: response bias and substitution
• response bias is where leading questions do not affect memory, just the choice of answer
• substitution is where the memory is imagined and the person believes changes due to leading questions
• post-event discussion is where witnesses discuss an event they saw
• post-event discussions pose issues as witnesses can combine information with their memories
• Gabbert et al (2003) aimed to investigate the effect of post-event discussion on the accuracy of EWT
• Gabbert et al (2003) found that 71% of participants recalled information they had not seen following post-event discussion, but that 0% of the control group recalled information they had not seen
• post-event discussion affects EWT through memory combination and memory conformity
• memory combination is where memories are altered due to information from other
• memory conformity is where witnesses go along with what others say to win social approval
• LIMITATIONS

  • evidence against substitution: memory of central details are not distorted
  • demand characteristics: in lab experiments, participants may respond to please researchers, decreasing internal validity
  • artificial tasks: does not reflect day-to-day life, lacks external validity
• STRENGTHS

  • useful real world application: can show why it is important to not use leading questions for police