Misleading Information: Post-event discussion

• Conformity effect

  people change their behaviour or belief's to fit in with larger groups.
• Post-event discussion 


  witnesses of the same event discuss what has just happened.
• Research - Gabbert et al 


  60 students and 60 adults watched a video of a girl stealing after the PP were tested individually (control group) or in pairs (co-witnesses). Pairs were told they were watching the same video but in reality only one of the pair was watching the girl steal. They discusses their videos before answering questions. 71% reported information they hadn't seen (due to post-event discussion). 60% of PP reported seeing girl steal but didn't actually see it in the video they watched.
• Evaluation - strengths of Post-event discussion

  +Standardised procedure: in a lab setting so extraneous variables are controlled so cause and effect can be established. Replicated to asses for reliability is results can be falsified.
• Evaluation weaknesses of Post-event discussion

  -Results have low ecological validity as pp knew they were taking part in the study so may have paid close attention to details. In real life when witnessing a crime its surprising as events unfold so level of anxiety is higher so can influence memory.

  -Population validity: two different populations and didn't find much differences so can conclude that post-event discussion affects both younger and older in a similar way.