Eye Witness Testimony

Eye Witness Testimony

1. Misleading Infomration

   • Loftus and Palmer
     • Asked a question about a car crash, The more harsh the verb E.G Smash, Bumped ect, The higher the estimated speed
       • If asked about any broken glass...
         • More likely to say yes if a harsh verb was used
       • Loftus and Zanni
         • When asked if they saw 'a' or 'the' broken headlight, More likely to say yes in 'the' condition
     • Lacks ecological validity, Demand Characteristics leading to reduced validity and reliability
   • Witnesses to a robbery in Canada gave accurate reports despite being exposed to Misleading Infomration

2. Post Event Discussion

   • Shaw et al
     • Participants paired with a confederate and asked questions about a crime video
       • Particpant Answering first : 58% accurate Confederate answering correctly first: 67% accurate Confederate answering wrongly first: 42% accurate
   • Gabbert
     • A convocation is more likely to contaminate memory than a written report
   • Yuille and Cutshall
     • Witnesses to a robbery in Canada gave accurate reports despite being exposed to Post Event Discussion

3. Age

   • Valentine
     • Found that Children and Elderly give less accurate information about a crime
       • Has led to a change in how they're questioned

4. Anxiety

   • Yerkes Dodson Law
   • Loftus
     • Pen Knife Study
     • Those who saw the man appear with a knife gave accurate identification of the man 32% of the time
   • Witnesses to a robbery in Canada gave accurate reports despite having increased anxiety
   • The Accuracy may have been down to proximity and not Anxiety

5. Cognitive Interview

   • Geiselman et al
     • 4 parts of the Cognitive Interview
       • Report Every detail
       • Change the Perspective
       • Change the order of effects
       • Recreate Context
     • Found a Significant Increase in accuracy using the cognitive interview
   • Fisher et al
     • Trained the Florida police force to use the Cognitive Interview
     • Found a 47% increase in accuracy
   • Holliday
     • Found an increase in accuracy when used on Children
   • Wagstaff
     • When it is used in the real world it is not one procedure but a combination of procedures that the police choose to use
   • Can improve the economy by reducing time and money spent following up on inaccurate information

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