Misleading information & Eyewitness Testimonies – 12/16 marker content
Effect of Leading Questions – Loftus and Palmer:
LEADING QUESTIONS: question by ID form or consent suggests to witness what answer is desired or leads them to a desired answer
AlM:
To investigate effect of leading questions in distorting accuracy EWT.
PROCEDURE:
45 American students shown films of different car accidents and given questionnaire asking to describe accident, which included 1 critical question: how
fast was the car going when they ... each other?
Participants divided into 5 groups - each group asked critical question followed by 1 of 5 verbs: hit, smashed, collided, bumped or contacted.
Independent variable = wording of question
Dependent variable = speed reported by participants
FINDINGS:
When a more impactful verb was used, participants estimated cars were travelling much faster compared to when the verb 'contacted' was used.
CONCLUSION
Language used in questions can have a distorting impact an EWT
Can lead to inaccurate accounts of witnessed event.
Effects of Post-event Discussion – Gabbert et al (2003):
POST EVENT DISCUSSION: refer to any information discussed after event has happened which can influence a person's memory of the event.
PROCEDURE:
Participants split into pairs, each person watched video about same crime but from deferent viewpoints
Each participant in each pair could see elements in the event that the other could not (e.g. title of a book)
Both participants in each pair discussed what they had seen before individually completing a test of recall
control group had no discussion before recall
FINDINGS:
Experimental condition: 71% of participants mistakenly recalled aspects of the event they did not see in the video but had picked up in the discussion.
·Control group: 0%
CONCLUSION:
Witnesses often change memory to go along with the account of others to win social approval or because they believe the other witnesses were right and
they were wrong.
Effect of Leading Questions – Loftus and Palmer:
LEADING QUESTIONS: question by ID form or consent suggests to witness what answer is desired or leads them to a desired answer
AlM:
To investigate effect of leading questions in distorting accuracy EWT.
PROCEDURE:
45 American students shown films of different car accidents and given questionnaire asking to describe accident, which included 1 critical question: how
fast was the car going when they ... each other?
Participants divided into 5 groups - each group asked critical question followed by 1 of 5 verbs: hit, smashed, collided, bumped or contacted.
Independent variable = wording of question
Dependent variable = speed reported by participants
FINDINGS:
When a more impactful verb was used, participants estimated cars were travelling much faster compared to when the verb 'contacted' was used.
CONCLUSION
Language used in questions can have a distorting impact an EWT
Can lead to inaccurate accounts of witnessed event.
Effects of Post-event Discussion – Gabbert et al (2003):
POST EVENT DISCUSSION: refer to any information discussed after event has happened which can influence a person's memory of the event.
PROCEDURE:
Participants split into pairs, each person watched video about same crime but from deferent viewpoints
Each participant in each pair could see elements in the event that the other could not (e.g. title of a book)
Both participants in each pair discussed what they had seen before individually completing a test of recall
control group had no discussion before recall
FINDINGS:
Experimental condition: 71% of participants mistakenly recalled aspects of the event they did not see in the video but had picked up in the discussion.
·Control group: 0%
CONCLUSION:
Witnesses often change memory to go along with the account of others to win social approval or because they believe the other witnesses were right and
they were wrong.
