Misleading information

• One strength is its real-life applications. For example, Loftus argues that leading questions have such a distorting effect on memory that police officers need to be more careful about their phrasing during interviews.
• However, a limitation is the presence of demand characteristics. For example, in EWT studies, they may see film clips of car accidents, robberies or weapons and then be asked to perform a recall task. PS want to appear helpful and attentive hence they deliberately behave to fulfil those expectations or to undermine them.
• Another limitation is the use of artificial tasks. For instance, in Loftus and Palmer’s study, they showed PS film clips of car accidents.
• Furthermore, it ignores individual differences. For example, Anastasi and Rhodes found that people in age groups 18-25 and 35-45 were more accurate when identifying people of their own age group - own age bias.