Factors affecting Eye-Witness Testimonies- Misleading Information and Anxiety

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What is eyewitness testimony?

Eyewitness testimony refers to the information recalled about a crime by an eyewitness.

What can reduce the accuracy of eyewitness testimony?

The accuracy of such an account can be reduced through the influence of misleading or incorrect information in the form of leading questions and post-event discussions.

Who investigated the effects of leading questions on eyewitness testimony?

The effects of leading questions on the accuracy of EWT was investigated by Loftus and Palmer in 1974.

What method did Loftus and Palmer use in their study on leading questions?

Participants watched a film clip of a car crash and then gave speed estimates of the cars based on a leading question

What were the findings regarding the verb 'smashed' in Loftus and Palmer's study?

Those exposed to the verb 'smashed' gave a speed estimate 8.7 mph greater than those who heard 'contacted'.

What concept explains the way leading questions influence eyewitness accounts?

The effects of leading questions can be explained by the idea of response bias and the substitution explanation.

What is the idea of 'memory conformity' as discussed in the context of post-event discussions?

Memory conformity describes the tendency for individuals to adopt incorrect ideas or details because they believe that the other person is correct.

What was the method used by Gabbert et al. in their 2003 study?

Using a matched-pairs design, they showed participants a film clip of the same crime scene, but with different details for each member.

What did Gabbert et al. find regarding inaccuracies in eyewitness testimony?

They found a 71% inaccuracy rate of information gained through post-event discussions, compared to a 0% control group rate.

What is own-age bias as described by Anastasi and Rhodes?

Own-age bias describes the tendency to recall others from your own age group with a higher degree of accuracy than those from other age groups.

What methodological criticism is raised regarding the accuracy of eyewitness testimony studies?

Studies of EWT often use the same young target to identify, which may lead to inaccuracies in representing older participants.

How does demand characteristics affect the reliability of eyewitness testimony findings?

Participants may give answers they think are expected of them, thus biasing the results and reducing reliability.

What is the Yerkes-Dodson Law in relation to anxiety and performance?

The Yerkes-Dodson Law suggests that there is an inverted-U relationship between increasing arousal and performance, with moderate arousal yielding the highest performance.

What did Johnson and Scott (1976) demonstrate about anxiety's effect on eyewitness testimony?

They showed that high anxiety conditions resulted in a 16% lower rate of accurate recall compared to low anxiety conditions.

What phenomenon explains why anxiety might reduce accuracy in eyewitness testimony?

The tunnel theory of memory and the weapon focus effect, where attention is drawn towards the weapon, may explain the reduction in accuracy.

How did Yuille and Cutshall (1986) find anxiety to have a positive effect on eyewitness testimony?

They found that eyewitness accuracy remains high after a real-life shooting incident, with an 11% higher accuracy for those reporting higher anxiety levels.

What ethical issues are associated with studies on eyewitness testimony involving anxiety?

The ethical issues include exposing participants to distressing images and recalling traumatic events, which may breach guidelines for participant protection.

What are the four stages of the cognitive interview?

1. Report everything 2. Reinstate the context 3. Change the perspective 4. Reverse the order.

What does the enhanced cognitive interview emphasize?

It focuses on the social dynamics of the interactions between the eyewitness and the interviewer.

What did Kohnken et al. (1999) find regarding the cognitive interview?

They found that the cognitive interview increases recall of correct information by 81%, but also increases recall of incorrect information by 61%.

Which components of the cognitive interview did Milne and Bull (2002) find to be most effective?

They found that 'context reinstatement' and 'report everything' produced the greatest accuracy of recall of correct information.

Why may the cognitive interview have limited practical value?

It may be too time-consuming and require specialist skills, leading some police forces to be unimpressed with its implementation

how to improve cognitive interviews (enhanced cognitive interview)

• Avoid making judgements

• Ask the witness to speak slowly

• Adapt language to suit witness

• Take steps to reduce anxiety of witness

• Ask open ended questions

• Control eye-contact

2 reaserch to support the cognitive interview

Kohnken et al(1999) meta-analysis – ECI consistently provided more correct information than the standard interview.

2.Milne and Bull (2002) found that CI produced more information than SI.

limitations of cognitive interview (3)

1. Time-consuming – to establish rapport and allow the witnesses to relax. Requires special training.

2. Some elements are more valuable than others - Milne and Bull (2002) found that CI produced more information than SI. Report everything and context reinstatement produced better recall than other elements.

3. Increase inaccurate information – Kohnken (1999) 61% increase in incorrect information in the ECI compared to the CI.

Standard Police Interview (SI) (3)

• Revolves around the interviewer rather than the witness. The interviewer does most of the talking often asking specific questions that require forced choice answers.

• Questions are often predetermined following a written checklist. Witnesses are discouraged from including extra information. The interviewer may unconsciously ask leading questions or contaminate a witness’ memory so that what they recall later is inaccurate. 

• This leads to inaccuracies in information. This is because these techniques do not aid memory retrieval.

Johnson and Scott (reported by Loftus) aim, procedure, results, conclusion

• AIM: To investigate the effect of weapon focus on EWT.

• PROCEDURE: Participants were asked to sit in a waiting room where they heard an argument in an adjoining room and then saw a man run through the room carrying either a pen covered in grease (low anxiety condition) or a knife covered in blood (high anxiety ‘weapon focus’ condition). Participants were later asked to identify the man from a set of photographs. 

• RESULTS: Mean accuracy was 49% in identifying the man in the pen condition, compared with 33% accuracy in the knife condition. 

• CONCLUSION: This is evidence to support weapon focus occurs, which causes anxiety impacting the reliability of EWT. 

Christianson and Hubinette aim,procedure, findings, conclusion

• AIM: To investigate the effects of anxiety on EWT from naturalistic experiments.

• PROCEDURE: They interviewed 110 people who had previously witnessed bank robberies. Some of the participants had just been witnesses whilst others had actually been threatened.

• RESULTS: Those who had actually been threatened had the most accurate and detailed recall of events.

• CONCLUSION: When we are more anxious in a situation, EWT is better.