Yuille + Cutshall (1986)

Yuille + Cutshall (1986)

1. Aim: To investigate the accuracy of recall of EW's to a real crime, in response to leading questions and over time.

2. Background Information

   • Vancouver, Canada
   • Thief entered a gun shop, tied up owner. Took money and guns from the shop and left. The shop owner freed himself and went outside armed with a gun to take the theifs registration number.
   • Thief had not gotten into his car yet and shot the owner twice from 6 feet away.
   • After a pause the owner shot the theif 4 times, killing him.
   • Witnesses viewed the crime differently, from cars, buildings ect.

3. Participants

   • 21 interviewed by police
   • 13 agreed to take part in the study
   • Ps were aged between 15 and 32
   • 3 Females, 10 Males

4. Procedure

   • Interviews were recorded and written down. Like the police interviews, EW's gave their accounts first and were then asked questions.
   • Ps were also asked to rate the stress they had felt at the time of the incident and before the incident using a 7 point scale.
   • 2 leading questions were used.
     • Half of ps were asked if they saw THE broken headlight. The other half were asked if they saw A broken headlight. There was no broken headlight.
     • Half of ps were asked if they saw A yellow panel on the thiefs car. The other half were asked if they saw THE yellow panel. The panel was blue.
   • They were also asked if they had experienced any emotional problems since the event, e.g. sleeplesness.
   • A scoring procedure was used to turn results from qualitative to quantitative data. The researchers wanted to know the true event as well as results of the previous police interviews.

5. Results

   • The researchers obtained more information than the police had initially.
     • Found 1000 details compared to the 650 police had.
   • Found no relationship between stress levels and accuracy of recall.
   • Only accurate details were scored.
   • Action details: Police: 60% Researcher: 52%
   • Person description: Police: 28% Researcher: 25%
   • Object description: Police: 12% Researcher: 23%

6. Conclusions

   • Misleading questions do not influence the accuracy of real EW's.
   • Stress and anxiety do not negatively affect recall.