factors affecting the accuracy of ewt (ppt1)

misleading questions, post event discussion, post event information

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  • Created by: Humanur
  • Created on: 06-06-21 00:25
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  • factors affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony (pt1)
    • misleading questions
      • the idea is that the person's memory isn't set instone, so the witness might be open to altering depending on the word choices in a question
      • Lotus and Palmer: leading questions
        • investigated how the style/wording of questions might affect what the witness might say about what they saw
          • 45 uni students were showed 7 mini clips of car crashes after viewing they were seperated into groups and asked quenstions
            • key queston: how fast were the cars going when they contacted/ smashed/hit/ bumped/ collided/
              • the different words made the students recall the speed differently the estmated average mph was the lowest for bumped (34.0) and the highest estimated mph was smashed (40.8)
          • 150 student watched a video of a car crash and the seperated into 3 groups
            • 1) the key question was asked again with the word hit 2) the question was asked with smashed 3) contol group neither verb was mentioned
              • key queston: how fast were the cars going when they contacted/ smashed/hit/ bumped/ collided/
                • the different words made the students recall the speed differently the estmated average mph was the lowest for bumped (34.0) and the highest estimated mph was smashed (40.8)
              • then all groups were asked if there was broken glass at the scene: 1) 7/50 said yes 2) 16/50 said yes 3) 6/50 said yes
                • there was no broken glass at the scene
          • Lotus and Palmer demonstrated that memories of eyewitnesses are not as reliable as we might assume
            • certain adjectives and verbs are very suggestive and this might reshape the persons memory
    • post-event discussion
      • Gilbert et al
        • they presented pairs with different fotage of the same crime
          • 71% of all participants recalled things that they themselves had not seen
            • this confirms that in discussion after the event memories can be reshaped
    • evaluation
      • strength: research into misleading information is that it has  practical value to the criminal justice system
        • counterpoint: Lotus and Palmer's participants only watched video clips not a real life situation- less stressful
      • limitation: the subsituation explanation is that ewt is more accurate of an event than for others
        • Sutherland and Hayne
          • when asked participants were asked misleading questions their recall was more accurate for central details than for perpheral ones
      • limitation: the memory conformity explanation id evidence thst post event discussion actually alters ewt
        • wright: showed 2 groups 2 videos one with a person with light brown and one with dark brown hair after discussion the participants decided on medium brown hair
    • post-event information
      • Lotus and Pickell
        • information given to participants after the event can reshape/ invent memories
          • 120 students that have visited dinsyland as a child to review thw 'new' disney advert
            • 1)fake ad w/ no cartoon character 2)fake ad with no cartoon character buta bugs bunny model in the room 3) fake ad ft bugs bunny 4) fake ad ft bugs bunny and a bugs bunny model in the room
              • 30% of people in 3) and 40% in 4) said they remembered bugs bunny which isn't possible
                • this disneyland study is superior to the carcrash study as it relies on real life experiences
  • 'picking Cotton': Cotton was found guilty of **** due to an eyewitness testimoney from the victim that was so sure but later due to dna evidence it was found that her memory didn't serve her right
  • Bartlett: memories are not accurate 'snapshots' of events instead reconstruction of events, that are held by our schemas
    • he have a story of the Navajo Indians to a western group of participants, as the story got passed around it got shorter and lacked detail
      • he concluded the story changed to fit the western schema

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