factors affecting eyewitness testimonies

name the two factors (and the 2 subfactors for one of them) that affect eyewitness testimonies

misleading information - leading questions + post event discussion

anxiety

what is a leading question? + name the 2 explanations

a question that prompts/encourages the person to give a certain answer

response bias explanation - the wording of a question doesnt actually affect the person’s memory, just influences how they answer

substitution explanation - the question actually changes the person’s perception of the event

leading question study

loftus and palmer (1974)

• showed participants a video of a car crash then asked them to estimate the speed the car was going using a leading question and changing the verb

• found that the more violent the verb, the higher mean estimated speed

• contacted - 31.8, hit, bumped, collided, smashed - 40.8

• suggests that leading questions have an effect on eyewitness testimonies, either response bias or substitution explanations could apply

W - poor testability as it is a lab experiment so participants are less stressed than if this were to have happened in real life and are focused on the task with no distractions, lacks mundane realism so low ecological validity, unable to conclude is participants would be affected in the same way in real life

W - doesn’t take into account anxiety

what is post event discussion? what are the two types

when witnesses discuss the details of a crime following the incident and people’s memories are combined/distorted or they conform with the other witnesses

memory contamination - discussions alter or distort memories new information is combined with the original memory

memory conformity - witnesses may go along with each other, either because they want to win social approval or because they think that the other witness is correct. the actual memory is unchanged

post event discussion study

gabbert et al. (2003)

• participants watched a video of a girl stealing

• control group tested alone or co-witness group tested in pairs - only one of the pair shown a video of her stealing

• pairs given time to discuss then given a questionnaire

• found 71% recalled info they hadn’t seen, 60% said she was guilty

• suggests witnesses either have their memory contaminated or conform as a result of post event discussion, suggests it has an effect of eye witness testimonies, reducing accuracy

how does anxiety have a negative effect on eye witness testimony accuracy? (AO1)

anxiety creates physiological arousal in the body - prevents us paying attention to important cues so recall is worse

suggested that as weapons induce anxiety, if one is present the focus will be on it, reducing a witness’s recall of other details

anxiety negative effects (/weapon focus) study

johnson & scott (1976)

• participants believed they were in waiting room for a lab study

• low anxiety condition heard a conversation in the next room then saw a man walk out with a pen

• high anxiety condition heard an argument + breaking glass then saw a man walk out holding a blood covered knife

• found that 49% could identify the man with the pen but only 33% could identify the man with the knife

• suggests weapon focus as a result of anxiety reduces accuracy of eyewitness testimonies

S - high mundane realism + ecological validity, natural setting - conclusions drawn about how anxiety effects EWTs highly valid

W - lacks internal validity as may have tested unusualness not anxiety, may have focused on weapon due to surprise rather than anxiety

• kerri pickel (1998) repeated experiment in hair salon using scissors, wallet (usual), handgun + raw chicken (unusual)

• found accuracy was significantly worse in the unusual object conditions

• suggests that weapon focus is due to unusualness rather than anxiety, therefore the study doesn’t provide valid evidence to suggest anxiety has a negative effect on EWTs

how does anxiety have a positive effect on eye witness testimony accuracy? (AO1)

anxiety creates physiological arousal in the body - triggers fight or flight response which increases alertness which may improve recall as witnesses are more aware of cues in the situation

anxiety positive effect study

yuille & cutshall (1986)

• interviewed 13 witnesses of an actual shooting 5 months after it took place and compared answers with original police interviews

• also asked to rate their stress during the incident on a scale

• found the witnesses’ recall remained very accurate + those who rated higher on the stress scale had more accurate recall

• suggests anxiety may enhance the accuracy of EWTs in the real world

S - high ecological validity - field study, studied an actual event, data is realistic so can be used to suggest how anxiety impacts EWTs in real life, however…

W - not replicable so lacks reliability, may only have increased accuracy in this one unique incident - therefore ungeneralisable

W - extraneous variables couldn’t have been controlled

• eg. media coverage of event, - accurate recall may have been due to the witnesses reading or thinking about the incident a lot (rehearsal) rather than anxiety

• different distances of witnesses from the shooting - high anxiety could’ve been due to close distance which is why they recalled more as they could see more, not due to anxiety