Outline and evaluate the effect of misleading information on eyewitness testimony PLAN
Outline and evaluate the effect of misleading information on eyewitness testimony. (8 Marks)
Plan
Eyewitness testimony is the evidence given in court or in police investigations by someone who has witnessed a crime or an accident.
A leading question is a question phrased in such a way as to prompt a particular kind of answer.
Talk about Loftus and Palmer;
Aim; to find out if changing the wording of a question could distort someone’s ability to recall memory of an event.
Method; Showed participants a series of car crash videos before asking them to fill out a questionnaire. One question was how fast the cars were going. They used an independent measures design to divide the participants into 5 conditions: 'Smashed', 'Collided', 'Bumped', 'Hit', 'Contacted'.
Results; found that by changing the wording of a question, it significantly influenced the speeds given by the participants.
Loftus and palmer were interested in seeing how misleading questions affected eyewitness testimony, they conducted a lab experiment in which 45 students were shown films of traffic accidents, they were then asked a question about how fast the car was going, students were either given the verb hit, smashed, contacted, collided or bumped. The group with smashed estimated the highest speed whereas the group given the word contacted estimated the lowest speed, this suggests that leading questions have a significant effect on memory. Loftus et al conducted another lab experiment to assess the effect of misleading info on EWT.
Plan
Eyewitness testimony is the evidence given in court or in police investigations by someone who has witnessed a crime or an accident.
A leading question is a question phrased in such a way as to prompt a particular kind of answer.
Talk about Loftus and Palmer;
Aim; to find out if changing the wording of a question could distort someone’s ability to recall memory of an event.
Method; Showed participants a series of car crash videos before asking them to fill out a questionnaire. One question was how fast the cars were going. They used an independent measures design to divide the participants into 5 conditions: 'Smashed', 'Collided', 'Bumped', 'Hit', 'Contacted'.
Results; found that by changing the wording of a question, it significantly influenced the speeds given by the participants.
Loftus and palmer were interested in seeing how misleading questions affected eyewitness testimony, they conducted a lab experiment in which 45 students were shown films of traffic accidents, they were then asked a question about how fast the car was going, students were either given the verb hit, smashed, contacted, collided or bumped. The group with smashed estimated the highest speed whereas the group given the word contacted estimated the lowest speed, this suggests that leading questions have a significant effect on memory. Loftus et al conducted another lab experiment to assess the effect of misleading info on EWT.