Eyewitness testimony

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• Eyewitness testimony 

•  there were 40 cases where DNA disproved eyewitness testimony that had put people on death row, memories can be vulnerable to distortion this is called misinformation acceptance as investigated by loftus

• Three factors affecting = 

• Leading questions = when questions already infer an answer

• Post event discussion =  when memories are discussed with others or interviews are repeated memories can be distroted

• Evidence 1 = Loftus 150 participants saw a car crash, group 1 were asked how fast was the car going when it 'smashed' , group 2 when it hit and group 3 nothing. Then they were asked if they saw any broken glass a week later1= 32% yes2 = 14% yes3 = 12%

• Evidence 2 = LoftusShowed participants a video of a car crash and then group 1 were asked if they saw 'a' broken headlight, but group 2 were asked if they saw 'the' broken headlightGroup 1 = 7% yes2 = 17% yes

• Evidence 3 opposing = Berkain and BowersSlowed slides of events of a car crash, leading questions did not affect the results

• Evidence 1 = Wright et alShowed participants identical crime but half saw the thief and the other half didn't, after discussion 75% of pairs showed conformity even though initial recall was accurate

• Evidence 2 = gabbert et alTwo groups watched the same crime scene but from different angles and they were lead to believe they had watched the same video, they were asked to recall in pairs or alone, and then all recall alone. 71% of those who discussed gave incorrect details, conformity had occurred

• Effects of anxiety = if we are in an emotional state when we think something bad will happen

• Evidence 1 = LoftusWeapons focus effectTwo groups of people sat outside a room, group 1 see a man holding a pen and group 2 see him holding a gun. Group 1 were 45% accurate at recognition compared to 33% in group 2

• Opposing evidence = Yuille and CutshallConducted research into gun theft, shop owner killed thief in front of 21 witnesses, 13 were interviewed 4 months later and the accounts were still accurate, anxiety can lead to high recall

• Opposing evidence = Christianson and HubinetteQuestioned 58 witnesses of real-life robberies and found that those threatened had improved recall