My memory

• What is a leading question?

  A question which, because of the way it is phrased, suggests a certain answer. E.g. 'was the knife in his LEFT hand?
• What does eyewitness testimony mean?

  Ability of people to remember details of events, such as accidents or crimes, which they have observed
• What are two types of misleading information?

  In form of leading questions or post event discussion between people. It is incorrect information given to eyewitness usually after event.
• Who tested the effects of leading questions?

  Loftus and Palmer (1974)
• What was the procedure of Loftus and Palmer's study?

  Ppts watched film clips of car accidents and then were given questions about it, some were normal but one was a leading question about how fast the car was travelling. Some groups were asked how fast they were going when they SMASHED into eachother (suggests fast speed) while other groups were given verbs bumped, collided, contacted.
• What did Loftus and Palmer find?

  Mean estimated speed was calculated for each ppt group. Verb contacted = 31.8mph while smashed was 40.5mph. The leading question biased the eyewitness recall of an event
• What two explanations explain why leading questions affect EWT?

  - response bias explanation and - substitution explanation
• What is the response-bias explanation?

  Suggests wording of question has no real effect on the participants' memories, but influences how they decide to answer.
• What is the substitution explanation?

  Wording of a leading question actually changes the participant's memory of the film clip. This was demonstrated in Loftus & Palmer as ppts who originally heard 'smashed' were more likely to report broken glass (there was non) than Those who heard 'hit'. The Critical verb altered their memory of the incident.
• What is post-event discussion?

  When there is more than one witness to an event, they may discuss what they have seen with each other. This may influence the accuracy of each witness's recall of the event, as they combine (mis)information from other witnesses with their own memories
• Who tested post event discussion?

  Gabbert et al (2003)
• How did Gabbert et al run her study?

  Ppts in pairs. Each watched video of same crime but filmed from different view meaning each ppt could see an element of the event that the other could not. Then both ppts discussed what they had seen with each other Before individually completing a test of recall.
• What did Gabbert find?

  71% of ppts mistakenly recalled aspects of the event that they did not see in the video but had picked up in the discussion. In control group this was 0%. Concluded that witnesses often go along with each other to either sun social approval or because they believed the other witness's is right and they're wrong - called memory conformity.
• What 4 evaluations are there?


  Real life application,

  Artificial task

  Demand characteristics

  Individual differences
• Evaluation 1 : real life application

  Highly important in practical uses in real world, where consequences of EWT can be very serious. Loftus said police offers have to be careful about how they ask questions to eye witnesses. Research into EWT is one area in which psychologists believe they can make an important positive difference to the lives of people, for instance by improving the way the legal system works and by appearing in court trials as expert witnesses.
• Evaluation 2 : artificial tasks

  In Loftus and Palmer study, ppts WATCHED films of accidents, very different from witnessing a real accident, mainly because such clips lack the stress of a real accident. There is some evidence and theories, such as those by Johnson & Scott, that emotions can affect memory. Limitation because studies that use artificial tasks may tell us very little about how leading questions affect EWT in cases of real accidents or crimes. It could be that researchers like Loftus are too pessimistic about accuracy of EWT, it may be more reliable than studies suggest
• Evaluation 3: individual differences

  There is evidence that older people are less accurate than younger people when giving eyewitness reports. Rhodes and Anastasi (2006) found people in age groups 18-25 and 35-45 were more accurate than people in the age group 55-78. However, all age groups were more accurate when identifying people of their own age group (own age bias). Research studies often use younger people, like Gabbert (students) as the target to identify and this may mean that some age groups appear less accurate but in fact this is not true.
• Evaluation 4 : demand characteristics

  Zaragosa and McCloskey (1989) argue that many answers participants gave in lab studies of EWT are the result of demand characteristics. Participants usually do not want to let the researcher down, and want to appear helpful and attentive. So when they are asked a question they don't know the answer to, they guess, especially if it's a yes/no question. Yes is typically more desirable.
• What is memory contamination? (PED)

  When co-witnesses discuss a crime, they mix (mis)information from other witnesses with their own memories
• What is memory conformity ?

  Witnesses go along with each other to win social approval or because they believe other witnesses are right