Misleading information

What is eyewitness-testimony?

Remembering the details of accidents and crimes you observe

What is misleading information?

Incorrect information given to an eyewitness after the event - post-event information

What is a leading question?

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

What is post-event discussion?

Witnesses discuss what they have seen with co-witnesses after an event - this may influence the accuracy of the witnesses’ recall of the event

What research did Loftus & Palmer (1974) do on leading questions?

• 45 students watched clips of car accidents, which they were then questioned on

• They were asked the leading question: ‘About how fast were the cars going when they ____ each other?’

• Each group was given a different verb: contacted, bumped, collided, hit and smashed

What did Loftus and Palmer find on their first experiment?

Mean estimated speed:

1. Lowest - ‘Contacted’: 31.8mph

2. Highest - ‘Smashed’: 40.5mph

How did Loftus and Palmer explain their results?

Distortion of the participants’ memories due to the different verbs to characterise the intensity of the crash

What did Loftus & Palmer (1974) research in their second experiment?

• 150 students watched a short film which contained a car accident, which they were then questioned on

• In three conditions, two were asked ‘How fast were the cars going when they ____ each other?’, with the two verbs: hit and smashed, and the third not being questioned

• One week later, they were asked the leading question ‘Did you see any broken glass?’ (There was no broken glass)

What did Loftus and Palmer find in their second experiment?

• 16/50 of the ‘smashed’ group stated they saw glass

• 7/50 from the ‘hit’ group said they saw glass

• Participants who heard ‘smashed’ were over twice as more likely to recall seeing glass → the verb had a significant effect on the misperception of glass in the film

What did Clifasefi (2013) research on leading questions?

• Participants were given a questionnaire that claimed to be a personalised food and drink profile

• In one group, their files stated they had drunk so much alcohol that they were sick

• They later completed a memory test where they were asked a leading question on when they had become sick from drinking alcohol

• A significant number of participants recalled being sick from alcohol when they were younger, some claimed to not like alcohol because of this non-existent experience

• Participants’ memories were changed due to misleading information

What is response bias?

The wording of the question has no real affect on the participants’ memories, but how they decide to answer

What is the substitution explanation?

The wording of a leading question changes the participant’s memory of the event itself

What did Gabbert et al. (2003) research on post-event discussion?

• Each participant watched a video of the same crime from a different point of view

• They then discussed what they saw before taking a test

• 71% of participants mistakenly recalled aspects of the events that they didn’t see in the video, but picked up in conversation

• In the control group, the corresponding figure was 0%

• Shows PED can potentially lower accuracy of EWT through memory conformity

What is memory contamination?

Co-witnesses discuss a crime to each other, causing their EWT to become distorted with the misinformation from others

What is memory conformity?

Gabbert et al. concluded that witnesses often agree with each other either because of social approval or because they believe the other is more correct than they are → the actual memory stays unchanged

What are the strengths of research into misleading information?

• Real-world application

• Supporting evidence for memory conformity

What are the limitations of research into misleading information?

• EWT may be more reliable than studies suggest

• Challenging evidence for the substitution explanation

• Challenging evidence for memory conformity

What real-world application does research on misleading information have?

• Important practical uses in the criminal justice system → shows how easy it is to give an inaccurate EWT

• Loftus (1975) believes leading questions have such a distorting effect on memory that police officers need to be extremely careful about how they phrase their questions when interviewing eyewitnesses

What evidence is there to support memory conformity?

• Bodner et al. (2009): effects of PED can be reduced if participants are warned of their impact

• Recall was more accurate when participants were warned that any information received from a co-witness is second-hand and they should only recall their own memory of the events

• Suggest Gabbert et al.’s memory conformity explanation is accurate as participants did not conform to others when they believed their information incorrect

Why may Loftus overestimate how unreliable EWT is?

• Loftus and Palmer’s participants watched film clips in a lab → less stressful than real life

• Foster et al. (1994) showed that participants were less motivated to be accurate because there are not serious consequences to what is remembered by eyewitnesses in research, compared to real life

• Suggests Loftus is too negative, EWT may be more reliable

What challenging evidence is there against the substitution explanation?

• Sutherland & Hayne (2001) found that when participants were asked misleading questions on a video clip, their recall was more accurate for central details

• Participants’ attentions would have been focused on central features, therefore these memories were more resistant to misleading information

• Suggests substitution explanation is flawed as it doesn’t explain how central details of memories were not distorted

What challenging evidence is there against memory conformity?

• Skagerberg & Wright (2008) showed participants two films: in one, the criminal was brunette, and blonde in the other

• After participants discussed with each other, they reported a blend of the two

• Suggests memory is distorted through contamination in PED rather than memory conformity