evaluation

• an advantage of lab experiments is there is high control over extraneous variables this means that cause and effect can be established which increases the internal validity of the findings
• critised for lacking ecological/ external validity as it was in a controlled lab setting which makes it difficult to generalise findings
• due to the lab location and standardised procedures the study is replicable so it can repeated to check for consistent results which increases external reliability
• the sample can be critised for sample bias as it was made up of students so the findings lack population validity as its difficult to generalise findings
• Yuille and Cutshall found the EWT for a real life armed robbery were still accurate 4 months after despite 2 pieces of misleading information which challenges the validity of loftus and plamers findings
• Loftus conducted a study where ppts watched a car crash and asked either: "did u see the broken headlight" or "a broken headlight". 7% in "a' condition and 17% in "the". there was no broken headlight
• the study is ethical as they show the ppts a video of the car accidents rather then real life incidents which protects them from stress or anxiety
• can be critised for lack of valid consent as they did not reveal the true aims of the study to what the ptts consented too
• a negative social implication is it could lead to a lack of trust in EWT

  • Greene found a mock jury were aware of mistakes made them more sceptical which could lead to offenders walking free and be a risk again
• social implications to the way police interview witnesses as historically involved an 'interrogation' but now created the 'cognitive interview' which aims to eliminate leading questions to improve its accuracy and reduce the number of wrongful convictions