Flashcards
EWT: MISLEADING INFORMATION
Cards in this deck (11)
- 1Explain what is meant by the term misleading informationIncorrect information given to the witness, usually after the event.
It can take many forms such as leading questions or post-event discussion. - 2Explain what is meant by the term leading questionA question that suggests a specific answer due to the way it is phrased e.g. Was the man holding the knife in his left hand?
- 3Briefly outline one study that has investigated leading questions as a factor affecting the accuracy of EWT.Loftus and Palmer 1974
Showed PPTs a video of a car crash then asked them about the speeds of the cars, using increasingly aggressive terms to describe the crash:
Contacted, bumped, collided, smashed
They incorporated these in a leading question: "About how fast were the cars going when they ___ each other?"
They found that the more aggressive the verb the faster the speed was estimated.
Leading questions have an impact on recall - 4Outline the response bias explanationThe wording has no effect on memory, but influences how the witness decides to answer.
- 5Outline the substitution bias explanationThe wording of a leading question actually changes the memory of the film clip.
This was demonstrated by Loftus and Palmer who found that PPTs who had heard 'smashed' reported breaking glass even though there wasn't any - 6Briefly outline one study that has investigated post-event discussion as a factor affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimonyGabbert et al. gave PPT pairs a video of a crime to watch.
Both partners saw the crime from different angles thus seeing aspects the other did not.
Afterwards PPTs were allowed to discuss the clip and the research found that 71% of PPTs recalled events that they had not seen compared to the control group that had not discussed the clip which had 0% inaccurate recalled events.
Witnesses go along with each other --> memory conformity. - 7Explain why it might be better to carry out research into eyewitness testimony in the real world, rather than in a laboratory.Lab studies cannot replicate the stress people would feel if being a witness in the real world.
Such emotions can have an effect on memory and cannot be replicated effectively in a lab setting.
Conducting studies in a lab tells us nothing about eyewitness testimony in real life because the setting and materials are artificial. - 8Outline some research into individual differences in EWTFactors such as age can affect the recall eyewitnesses.
Anastasi and Rhodes found that younger age groups were more accurate in their recall than older groups. Additionally the study found that people are always better at recognising people their own age.
Studies often use younger people as the target and so some age groups may appear less accurate when in fact they are not. - 9A strength of research into EWT is that it has useful real world applications - explain thisConsequences of inaccurate EWT in the real world can be devastating
Research on this has lead to police officers changing their questioning technique in order to avoid the distorting effect of misleading information.
Research into this area can help to improve the legal system and increase the chances of eye-witnesses giving sound evidence - 10Outline the lack of consequences reason why lab research into EWT may be inaccuratePPTs usually know they are taking part in a study
They know that, no matter how serious or horrific the incident, the answers they give will not have any significant effects
This is not the case in real life --> leading questions may have less of an effect when the consequences are more serious - 11Outline the demand characteristics reason why lab research into EWT may be inaccurateZaragosa and McGloskey 1989 argue that answers given in lab studies of EWT are largely down to demand characteristics.
PPTs do not want to let the researcher down and so lie or give the answer they think is expected.
There is a danger that PPTs will not behave how we want them to (naturally). When this happens it decreases the validity of research studies because they are no longer measuring the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.
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- - Psychology (Memory) Flashcards on EWT: MISLEADING INFORMATION, created by Lianna Peryer on 23/05/2017.
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