Eye witness testimony

MISLEADING QUESTIONS-evidence provided by someone who witnessed a particular event or crime
(Loftus and Palmer)
Experiment 1
Method:
-ppt shown car crash films
-asked 'about how fast were the cars moving?'
-different groups, replaced 'hit' with 'bumped' or 'contacted'
Results:
-ppts given the word 'smashed' gave highest speed
-ppts given the word 'contacted' gave lowest speed

Experiment 2
Method:
-ppts put in 3 groups, one given verb 'smashed', other 'hit' and third none
-week after, asked 'did you see any broken glass?'
Results:
-no broken glass in film
-in 'smashed' condition, likely to say that they saw broken glass

CONCLUSION:
-leading questions affect accuracy of EWT

EVALUATION:
-artificial experiment
-watching a film is not as emotionally arousing as real life
-later study, those who thought they witnessed real robbery gave accurate descriptions of robber
-experimental design might lead to demand characteristics, leading questions may have given ppts clues after nature of the experiment (this would've reduced validity and reliability of experiment)

WITNESSED OFTEN INACCURATE IN RECOLLECTION OF EVENTS AND PEOPLE INVOLVED

(Loftus and Zanni)

• ppts shown a film of a car accident
  then asked 'Did you see A broke headlight or THE broken headlight?
  there was no broken…