Eyewitness Testimony

The evidence given in court or a police investigation where someone has witnessed a crime.

Misleading Information- Leading questions

Loftus & Palmer (1974)

aim: To investigate the effect of leading questions on the accuracy of EWT.

method: 45 American students were divided into 5 groups of 9. In an independant measures design, all participants watched a video of a car crash and were asked a question about the speed of the cars. The verb for each question was manipulated: smash, collided, hit, contacted

findings: The estimated speed given was affected by the verb used.  For the 'smashed' an average speed of 40.5 mph was given. For 'contacted' an average speed of 31.8 mph was given.

conclusion…