AO1 - Leading Questions

• A leading question is a question that wrongly implies something about an event or crime, such as 'what colour was the youth's jacket?, which implies that the perpetrator was a youth.
• Leading questions affect the accuracy of EWT as the information that is implied in the question contaminates the witness' memory and therefore witnesses recall inaccurate information
• Loftus and Palmer investigated the effect of leading questions on the accuracy of EWT
• Aim: To investigate whether the phrasing of a question can affect participants' memory of an event
• Method: Lab experiment
• Sample: 45 American students - split into 5 groups of 9
• Procedure:

  • all participants were shown a video of a car crash and each group was asked a leading question with a different verb
  • smashed, hit, collided, bumped or contacted (5 verbs)
  • "how fast were the cars going when they ***?"
  • Loftus and Palmer measured participants' speed estimates in MPH
• Findings: Participants guessed a higher mean speed when they had 'smashed' (40.5 MPH / approx 40 MPH) compared to 'contacted' (31.8 MPH / approx 30 MPH)
• Conclusion: The phrasing of a question can influence a participants' memory of an event