Factors affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony - leading questions, post-event discussion, anxiety, the weapon focus effect, Yerkes-Dodson Inverted U

What is a leading question?

a question phrased in a certain way or with words used to suggest a particular answer

What leads to inaccurate recall of events? (4)

individuals only retain fragments of information about an event, they fill in the gaps for what they don’t retain, causing a reconstruction of the event, information after the event distorts our memory

Who performed experiments on the effect of leading questions? (2)

Loftus and Palmer

What was the aim of Loftus and Palmer’s first experiment? (2)

to investigate whether the wording of a question could influence a person’s memory of an event, specifically the estimated speed of a car in a car crash

What design did Loftus and Palmer use in their first experiment?

independent groups design

How many individuals participated in Loftus and Palmer’s first study?

45

What were the five conditions of Loftus and Palmer’s first experiment? (6)

all were asked the question “About how fast were the cars going when they ___ into each other?” with either smashed, collided, bumped, hit or contacted

What was the average speed estimate for the “smashed” condition?

40.5 mph

What was the average speed estimate for the “contacted” condition?

31.8 mph

Which verb led to the highest speed estimates on average?

smashed

Which verb led to the lowest speed estimates on average?

contacted

What conclusion can be made about Loftus and Palmer’s first study? (2)

it supports the idea that eyewitness testimony is reconstructive, memories can be influenced by leading questions

What was the aim of Loftus and Palmer’s second study? (3)

to investigate whether leading questions affect speed estimates, as well as leading to the creation of false memories, like remembering something that wasn’t there

How many individuals participated in Loftus and Palmer’s second study?

150 students

What were the 3 conditions of Loftus and Palmer’s second study?

1 group the original question was asked with the verb “smashed”, 1 group the original question was asked with the verb “hit”, 1 group where no question was asked

What was the second part of Loftus and Palmer’s method in their second study? (3)

1 week after the participants watched the video, they were asked “Did you see any broken glass?”, when there was no broken glass in the videos

What were the results of Loftus and Palmer’s second study? (3)

in the “smashed” group 32% reported yes they did see glass which was 16/50, in the “hit” group 14% reported yes they did see glass which was 7/50, in the control group 12% reported yes they did see glass which was 6/50

What do the results from Loftus and Palmer’s second study show?

the verb used in the earlier question influenced their memory

What conclusion can be made from Loftus and Palmer’s second study? (2)

leading questions can alter a person’s memory, supporting the idea that eyewitness memory is reconstructive and can be distorted

What is post event discussion?

co-witnesses discussing events with eyewitnesses can lead to further distortion of an event

What were the results from Skagerburg and Wright’s study?

58% of eyewitnesses reported that they discussed the incident post event with other witnesses

Who performed research into the effect of post event discussion on the accuracy of eyewitness testimony?

Fiona Gabbert

What was the aim of Gabbert’s research?

to investigate whether post-event discussion between witnesses can lead to other people’s recall of the event being influenced

How many individuals participated in Gabbert’s research? (2)

60 students from University of Aberdeen, 60 older adults from a local community

What method did Gabbert use? (2)

the participants were shown a video of a girl stealing money from a wallet, either tested individually or in co-witness pairs

What happened in the co-witness group? (3)

they were told they were shown the same video, but only one individual in the pair had witnessed the girl stealing, participants in the co-witness group were allowed to discuss the crime together

What did all the participants do once they had watched the video?

complete a questionnaire testing their memory of the crime

What were the results of Gabbert’s experiment? (4)

71% of the co-witness group mistakenly recalled information about the crime that they had not seen, 60% of the co-witness group said the girl was guilty, even though they didn’t see the crime, in the control group 0% recalled information they hadn’t seen

What conclusion can be made from Gabbert’s research? (2)

The results highlight the problem with post event discussion and its effect on the accuracy of eyewitness testimony, significant for police interviews and the reliability of eyewitness testimonies in legal settings

Who performed a study to research the effect of post-event information? (2)

Loftus and Pickrell

What was the aim of Loftus and Pickrell’s research?

to investigate the effects of post-event information on the accuracy of recall

What were the characteristics of the participants in Loftus and Pickrell’s study?

120 students

How many conditions did Loftus and Pickrell set up?

4

What was the control condition of Loftus and Pickrell’s experiment? (2)

students were directed to read a fake Disney advert, with no cartoon characters on the slide

What was the second condition of Loftus and Pickrell’s experiment? (2)

students were directed to read a fake Disney advert, with a Bugs Bunny cardboard cutout in the room

What was the third condition of Loftus and Pickrell’s experiment? (2)

students were directed to read a fake Disney advert, with information on Bugs Bunny in the text

What was the fourth condition of Loftus and Pickrell’s experiment? (3)

students were directed to read a fake Disney advert, with information on Bugs Bunny in the text, and a cardboard cut out of Bugs Bunny in the room

What were the results of Loftus and Pickrell’s experiment from condition group 3 and 4? (2)

in condition group 3 30% remembered or knew they met Bugs Bunny at Disneyland, in condition group 4 40% remembered or knew they met Bugs Bunny at Disneyland

What conclusion can be made from Loftus and Pickrell’s research into post-event information?

Post-event information interfered with original memories at point of retrieval

How and why does anxiety affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimony? (3)

eyewitnesses are often in an anxious or stressed state, due to the danger they perceive to be in, anxiety may be a source of distortion for an eyewitness testimony

What else has been found to influence performance? (2)

physiological arousal, e.g. pounding heart, rapid and shallow breathing

Outline the Yerkes-Dodson Inverted U

memory is less accurate when anxiety is very low or very high

Describe the inverted U-shape curve (3)

increasing attention and interest, optimal arousal and optimal performance, impaired performance because of strong anxiety

Explain how the Yerkes-Dodson inverted U explains how anxiety affects the accuracy of eyewitness testimony (3)

when eyewitnesses recall a violent crime, it is likely that they were in a very high state of arousal at the time of the crime, so their performance in recalling details is affected negatively

What is the weapon focus effect? (3)

anxiety is most problematic for later recall when a crime involves a weapon, the anxiety of seeing a weapon focuses all your attention on the central details, so you are less able to recall peripheral details

What are 2 examples of peripheral details that are less likely to be recalled due to the weapon focus effect?

what the perpetrator looked like, what happened

What was the aim of Johnson’s and Scott’s investigation in 1976? (3)

to investigate the accuracy of eyewitness recall, through the weapon focus effect where attention is drawn to a weapon, reducing recall of peripheral details

What design did Johnson and Scott use?

independent groups design

What were the characteristics of the participants in Johnson’s and Scott’s study? (2)

volunteers, they believed they were taking part in a study on human memory

What method did Johnson and Scott use? (3)

participants were seated in a waiting room, and overheard a staged argument in the next room, there were 2 conditions

What were the 2 conditions of Johnson’s and Scott’s experiment? (4)

low-anxiety condition, a man walked out holding a pen with grease on his hands, high-anxiety condition, a man walked out holding a bloody knife

What happened in both conditions? (2)

the confederate stood in front of the participants for 4 seconds, and spoke 1 line of speech

What were the results from the low-anxiety condition when participants were asked to identify the man from 50 photos?

49% correctly identified the man

What were the results from the high-anxiety condition when participants were asked to identify the man from 50 photos?

33% correctly identified the man

What do these results suggest?

the presence of the weapon reduced the accuracy of eyewitness identification

What conclusion can be made from Johnson’s and Scott’s study? (3)

it supports the weapon focus effect, as the weapon draws the focus of attention and increased anxiety, reducing the accurate recall of peripheral details

What method did Elisabeth Loftus et al use in her study into the weapon focus effect? (3)

she directed participants to watch one of two conditions, a person pointing a gun at a cashier and receiving some cash, or a person handing over a cheque to a cashier and receiving some cash

What did Loftus find from her study into the weapon focus effect?

participants in the ‘cheque’ condition more accurately recalled details than participants in the ‘gun’ condition