Accuracy of eyewitness testimony: misleading information

• Leading questions


  Questions that influence the response of the participant
• Loftus and Palmer (1974) Experiment 1


  • 45 students
  • Shown 7 films of different traffic accidents
  • Given a questionnaire after each film
  • Critical question: "How fast were the cars going when they hit each other"
  • One group given this question, other 4 groups given verbs 'smashed, collided, bumped'
• Loftus and Palmer (1974) Experiment 2


  • Participants divided into 3 groups
  • Shown a film of a car accident
  • Asked a series of 10 questions 1 week later, including "Did you see any broken glass?"
  • No broken glass in the film
• Post-event discussion

  · The memory of an event can also be contaminated or altered through discussing events and/or being questioned

  · Conformity effect: co-witnesses may reach a consensus of what actually happened. Gabbert and colleagues (2003) found that 71% of witnesses who discussed the event they had seen on a video went on to mistakenly recall items acquired during the discussion

  · Repeat interviewing: each time an eyewitness is interviewed there is the possibility that comments from the interviewer will be incorporated into their recollection of the event