Misleading information

• Leading questions

  >A leading question is a question that wrongly implies something about an event or crime such as 'what colour was the youths jacket?'

  > This effects the accuracy of EWT as implied information contaminates the wittness' memory
• Leading questions research

  > LOFTUS AND PALMER

  >Lab experiment, 45 american students

  > Car crash video

  > Smashed, hit, collided, bumped or contacted

  FINDINGS

  > guessed higher speed when 'smashed' was used (40.5 mph) compared to 'contacted' (31.8 mph)
• Leading questions AO3

  :) practical applications - cognitive interview

  :( lacks mundane realism
• Post event discussion

  > witnesses of a crime discuss their accounts with each other

  1. Memory contamination - alter or distort accounts due to combining misinformation from other witnesses
  2. Memory conformity - witnesses go along with each other to win social approval, memory remains unchanged but recall becomes inaccurate
• Post event discussion AO3

  :) RTS Skagerberg and Wright - mugging

  :( demand characteristics - lab
• Anxiety

  > strong emotional and physical state that effects EWT

  > extreme anxiety has been found to negatively affect EWT as witnesses only focus on certain aspects of the event
• Anxiety research

  > JOHNSON AND SCOTT

  > high anxiety 'weapon focus' and low anxiety condition

  > high anxiety - knife covered in blood

  > low anxiety - greasy pen

  FINDINGS

  > low anxiety condition ppts correctly identified the man leaving the room 49% of the time

  > high anxiety correctly identified the man 33% of the time
• Anxiety AO3 -

  :) RTS negative effect - Valentine and Mesout - london dungeons

  :( RTC Christianson and Hubinette - bank

  DISCUSSION interviewed months after, relying on recall