Misleading information and Eyewitness Testimony (Booklet 8)

Explain what is meant by a leading question in EWT? Give an example.

• A question because of the way it is phrased, suggests a certain answer

• Was the gun in his left hand?

Describe the procedure and findings of Loftus and Palmer’s study

Procedure

• Showed 45 American students a video of a car accident

• Asked them how fast the car was travelling when it smashed, collided, bumped, hit or contacted (varied the verb for different participants) another car.

Findings:

• Mean estimate (mph) with verb “smashed” were 40.8, whereas the mean estimate for contacted was 31.8

• 9 mph difference between most extreme and least extreme verb

• The extremity of the verb increased the mean estimate

What did Loftus and Palmer’s study show about the effects of leading questions on eyewitness testimony?

• Leading questions can change the reconstruction of an event during recall.

• This can lead to the recall of an event not being accurate due to memory reconstruction.

Why might the findings of Loftus and Palmer’s study be different to what may happen when witnessing a real life crash?

• Real life witness would higher anxiety levels

• Real life witness may not have been paying attention when event occurr ed

Explain the difference between substitution theory and response bias and how these can be used to explain the findings of research into leading questions

Substitution theory

• The verb used changes the memory of participants.

• For example the participants who were given the verb “smashed” were more likely to report seeing broken glass than participants given the verb “hit”

Response bias

• The memory of the participants is not changed, but the verb they were given encourages them to choose a higher speed

What did Yuille and Cutshall find about the effects of Leading questions on EWT? Explain why the findings are different to Loftus and Palmer’s study.

Yuille and Cutshall

• Examined a real-life case of a shooting when a man tried to rob a gun shop.

• Tracked down witnesses and found that their accounts of the event did not alter in response to leading questions

Different findings

• Yuille and Cutshall was a real life event so is high in mundane realism

• The consequences of a real life event are greater, so in Y&C leading questions had less effect

• Witnesses in Y&C were questions months after their first statement was given. This could suggest leading questions have less of an effect a while after an event

Outline what is meant by post event discussion. How might it affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimony?

Post event discussion

• Witnesses discuss what they have seen with co-witnesses or other people

• This can lead to contamination of memory (witnesses remember things differently based on new information from others)

• Memory conformity can also occur (people agree with others as they doubt their own memories or to win social approval)

Effect on accuracy

• May be reduced

Describe the Procedure and Findings of Gabbert’s study on post event discussion

Procedure

• Pairs of participants watched a video of a same crime, but filmed from a different view point

• The pairs were given an opportunity to discuss what they had seen

Findings

• 71% of participants reported remembering information that they could not possibly have seen

• This compares to 0% in the control group

• Gabbert argued that this was due to memory conformity

What did Gabbert’s study show about the effects of post event discussion on eyewitness testimony?

Gabbert's study demonstrated that post-event leads to a significant memory conformity effect. Therefore making eyewitness testimony less accurate.

What did Bodner find reduces the negative effects of post event discussion?

• Effects of Post-event discussion can be reduced if participants are warned of the effects

• Participants who are warned that anything they heard from co-witnesses is secondhand (hearsay) have much better recall of an event

How does research into effects of misleading information and anxiety on eyewitness testimony have useful real life applications?

• Research into misleading information can help highlight how inaccuracy in witness recall can be reduced (e.g: not using leading questions, not discussing event with co-witnesses).

• This is important because the consequences of inaccurate EWT can be very serious (e.g: prison sentence length, punishment received)

• Research into anxiety on eyewitness testimony, can help us to identify what witnesses are able to give accurate statements of events.