Misleading Info

• Eyewitness Testimony


  •Eyewitness testimony is the ability of the person who say the crime to remember the detail of the events they have observed. They provide this evidence in court, with a view to identifying the perpetrator. Their accuracy can be affected by factors such as misleading information and anxiety.
• •Misleading info


  – incorrect info given to eyewitness after the event which affects the accuracy of their testimony. It can take many forms e.g. leading questions and post-event discussion between co-witnesses or other people.
• •Leading question


  – a question which because of its phrasing suggests a certain answer. This can then affect the accuracy of the EWT.
• •Post-event discussion


  – when there is more than one witness to the event, they may discuss what they have seen with each other or other people. This may influence the accuracy of their recall of the event.•
• Loftus and Palmer (1974)

  •conducted a classic experiment to investigate the effect of leading questions on the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.
• Loftus and Palmer (1974)


  •Their sample consisted of 45 American students, who were divided into five groups of nine.•All of the participants watched a video of a car crash and were then asked a specific question about the speed of the cars.•Loftus and Palmer manipulated the verb used in the question, for example: “How fast were they cards going when they smashed / collided / bumped / hit / contacted with each other?’
• Loftus and Palmer (1974)


  Study on how leading questions can bias eyewitness recall
• Findings


  • Mean estimated speed for 'contacted' was 31.8mph
  • Mean estimated speed for 'smashed' was 40.5mph
  • The leading question biased the eyewitnesses' recall of the event
• Response-bias explanation


  The wording does not change their memory, it just influences how they choose to answer (e.g. 'smashed' makes them think faster, so they estimate higher)
• Substitution explanation


  The wording actually changes the participant's memory of the film clip (supported by finding that those who heard 'smashed' were far more likely to report seeing broken glass)
• Loftus and Palmer (1974) 

  •The results clearly show that the accuracy of eyewitness testimony is affected by leading questions and that a single word in a question can significantly affect the accuracy of our judgements.
• Post-Event Discussion


  •This occurs when a witness to a crime discusses it with another witness or someone else. This means that their eyewitness testimonies may become contaminated and therefore affects the accuracy of their recall of the event. This is because the witness combines (mis)information from other witnesses with their own memories.
• Gabbert et al. (2003)


  •The researchers found that 71% of the participants mistakenly recalled aspects of the event that they did not see in the video but had picked up in the discussion. The corresponding figure in the control group, where there was no discussion, was 0%. Gabbert et al. concluded that witnesses often go along with each other, either to win social approval or because they believe the other witnesses are right and they are wrong. This is called memory conformity.