Outline And Evaluate Research Into The Effects Of Misleading Information On Eyewitness Testimony
Outline and evaluate research into the effects of misleading information on eyewitness testimony Loftus and Palmer (1975) researched the effects of misleading information on eyewitness testimonies. They showed forty five students a short video clip of an accident between two cars. They were divided into five groups of nine students and asked “About how fast were the cars going when they … one another?”. Each group had a different verb (smashed, hit, bumped, collided or contacted). The results showed that participants had different interpretations about the speed of the car due to the different verbs that were used. The group given the word “smashed” gave 41% mean estimated speed whereas the group given the word “contacted” only gave 32%. This suggests that the use of more violent verbs lead to the witness to recall the car going faster. Loftus concluded that misleading questions can distort the witness’ memory and therefore account. Another reason she gave for this finding was response bias which is similar to demand characteristics as the witness may say what they feel the researcher wants the to. Loftus did another study in 1975 which aim to prove lhat distortion of memory was a factor to consider. She looked at the effects of misleading information on eyewitness testimonies. They showed one hundred and fifty participants a short video of a car travelling down a country road. They were then divided into two groups and asked ten questions about the video. Group one’s questions were all consistent with the video
(how fast was the white sports car going when it passed the stop sign?). There had been a white sports car passing a stop sign in the video. The second group were asked nine of the same questions as group one. However, the tenth question was a misleading question “How fast was the white sports car going when it passed the barn when travelling along the country road?”, there was no barn in the video. One week later both
(how fast was the white sports car going when it passed the stop sign?). There had been a white sports car passing a stop sign in the video. The second group were asked nine of the same questions as group one. However, the tenth question was a misleading question “How fast was the white sports car going when it passed the barn when travelling along the country road?”, there was no barn in the video. One week later both