Eyewitness testimonies

What did Barlett (1932) say memories are?

Not accurate snapshots but reconstructions influneced by active schema

Who said that memories are Not accurate snapshots but reconstructions influneced by active schema ?

Barlett (1932)

What effects accuracy of eye witness testimonies?

Misleading information

What are the 2 types of misleading information?

Leading questions

Post-event discussion

What are leading questions a type of?

Misleading information

What is post-event discussion a type of?

Misleading information

What did Barlett (1932) say memories are influenced by?

Active schemas

What do leading questions do?

Increase likelihood an individual's schema will influence them

What will Increase likelihood an individual's schema will influence them?

Leading questions

Who researched leading questions?

Loftus + Palmer (1974)

What is post-event discussion?

Information given after an event with potential to influence memory of it

Who researched post-event discussion?

Gabbert (2003)

What does confabulating mean?

Generating a false memory

What is the word for generating a false memory?

Confabulating

What was the aim of Loftus + Palmer (1974) experiment 1?

Show leading questions can have a confabulating effect + distort memory from cues in question

What type of experiment was Loftus + Palmer (1974) experiment 1?

Lab experiment

What sampling technique did Loftus + Palmer (1974) experiment 1 use?

Opportunity sampling of 45 Uni of Washington students

What experiment used opportunity sampling of 45 Uni of Washington students?

Loftus + Palmer (1974) experiment 1

Method of Loftus + Palmer (1974) experiment 1

1. 45 students shown 7 films of car accidents ranging in duration

2. Asked to describe what happened as eyewitnesses

3. Asked how fast cars were going with varied adjectives describing crash

Findings of Loftus + Palmer (1974) experiment 1

-Estimated speed of cars effected by verb used

-Verb 'Smashed' had the highest estimated speed (40.8 mph)

What verb had the highest estimated speed in Loftus + Palmer (1974) experiment 1?

Smashed

40.8 mph

How fast did people estimate the cars went when the verb Smashed was used in Loftus + Palmer (1974) experiment 1?

40.8 mph

What verb made people estimate the car went 40.8 mph in Loftus + Palmer (1974) experiment 1?

Smashed

Conclusion of Loftus + Palmer (1974) experiment 1

Verb altered participants perception so eye witness testimony may be altered by the way questions are asked

2 reasons why leading questions effect eye witness testimony

Response bias

Memory representation is altered

What is response bias?

Misleading info influenced answer given but didn't actually lead to a false memory

What is it called when Misleading info influenced answer given but didn't actually lead to a false memory?

Response bias

What does it mean if memory representation is altered?

Leading question changes a person's perspective of the event and that perspective is stored in person's memory

What is it called when a Leading question changes a person's perspective of the event and that perspective is stored in person's memory

Memory representation is altered

What was the aim of Loftus + Palmer (1974) 2nd experiment?

See if leading questions just create response bias or cause memory representation to be altered

What type of experiment was Loftus + Palmer (1974) 2nd experiment?

Lab experiment

What type of sampling did of Loftus + Palmer (1974) 2nd experiment?

Opportunity sampling

150 Uni of Washington students

What type of sampling did both of Loftus + Palmer (1974) experiments use?

Opportunity sampling

Students from Uni of Washington

What experiment used opportunity sampling of 150 Uni of Washington students?

Loftus + Palmer (1974) 2nd experiment

Method of Loftus + Palmer (1974) 2nd experiment

1. 150 students from Uni of Washington watch car crash video

2. 50 asked a with word 'hit' 50 asked word 'smashed' control group not asked

3. Week later asked if saw any glass (there was none)

Findings of Loftus + Palmer (1974) 2nd experiment

-Smashed more likely to report glass

Who was more likely to report glass in Loftus + Palmer (1974) 2nd experiment?

Those asked Smashed

Conclusion of Loftus + Palmer (1974) 2nd experiment

Misleading info in form of post-event info can affect memory recall

Why does post-event discussion contaminate memories?

Combine misinformation from others with own memory

Gabbert (2003) method

-Paired Ps watched a video of same crime that was filmed so each P could see elements the other P couldn't see

-Discussed what they had seen before individually completing a recall test

Findings of Gabbert (2003)

71% of Ps recalled aspects they couldn't see in video but picked up in post-event discussion

Control group had no post-event discussion so made no mistakes

What didn't the control group do in Gabbert (2003)

Have a post-event discussion

Control group made no mistakes

How many Ps recalled aspects they only picked up in post-event discussion in Gabbert (2003)?

71%

2 explanations for post-event discussion

Source monitoring theory

Conformity theory

What is source monitoring theory?

Memories of event are genuinely distorted

Eyewitness can recall info about event but not where it came from -> Source confusion

What is the theory called when Memories of event are genuinely distorted

Eyewitness can recall info about event but not where it came from -> Source confusion ?

Source monitoring theory

What is source confusion?

Person recalls info about event but not where it came from

What is it called when a Person recalls info about event but not where it came from?

Source confusion

What is conformity theory to explain post-event discussion?

Eye witness memories aren't actually distorted but the eyewitness just goes along with account of co-witnesses

What is the theory that Eye witness memories aren't actually distorted but the eyewitness just goes along with account of co-witnesses ?

Conformity theory