Memorise these words, you have until I have finished reading them out. sournicecandy honeysugarsoda bitterchocolategood hearttastecake toothtartpie

Look at your list – Who wrote down the word ‘Sweet’? You have experienced a false memory!! Key Study: - Loftus & Palmer How is this relevant to Eyewitness Testimony? Why is it an issue? ture=relmfu Memory is prone to distortion and inaccuracies!

EWT objectives You will learn about the Loftus and Palmers (1974) studies into EWT You will be able to critique the technique and the research. You will be able to apply this knowledge to exam style essay questions 5

Eyewitness Testimony What is it? The legal term referring to the use of eyewitnesses to give evidence in court concerning the identity of someone who has committed a crime.

Eyewitness Testimony Eyewitnesses play a role in criminal investigations. The psychological study of the accuracy of EWT suggests it is not reliable. The Devlin Report (1976) EWT was the only evidence offered in court and in 75% of these cases the suspect was found guilty. Research in the US has shown that eyewitness memory is the main factor leading to false convictions!

Our Memory can be affected by… Schemas (Reconstructive memory) Age of Witness Anxiety Post event information Leading Questions 8

Studies into the accuracy of EWT Loftus and Palmer (1974) gdM gdM You are about to take part in a study on memory. You will be shown a video of a car crash. During the experiment, please do not talk to each other.

Loftus and Palmer (1974) At what speed do you think the on-coming car was travelling when the cars crashed? Smashedcollidedbumpedhitcollided The aim of this was to find out leading questions distorted the accuracy of an eyewitnesses recall

Star Study: Loftus and Palmer (1974) Findings: The mean speed varied significantly between groups. ‘smashed’ – approx 41mph, ‘collided’ – approx 40mph, ‘bumped’ – approx 38mph, ‘ ‘hit’ – approx 34mph, ‘contacted’ – approx 32mph Conclusion: Leading questions (post-event info) can have an effect on memory.

Loftus and Palmer 1974 Read the info on Loftus and Palmers study You need to complete the boxes around the outside you need to consider AO1-Procedure and findings AO2- Criticisms AO3-Methods used, IV, DV etc

Conclusions of Loftus and Palmer’s study EWT is generally inaccurate Not all agree… Yuille & Cutshall (1986) examined the recall of witnesses to a shooting in a town in Canada. They interviewed 15 witnesses 3 months after the event and found that:- 1. witnesses recalled great detail, 2. high level of agreement between accounts and 3. witness accounts did not alter in response to leading questions! This goes against Loftus’ theory on reconstructive memory – HOW? Yuille & Cutshall study has high ecologically validity – WHY?

The role of Post event information in EWT Loftus and Palmer did a second study to see if information after an event can affect EWT. Read the info and then complete the worksheet for Loftus and Palmers second study.

Loftus’ 2 nd experiment (Broken glass study) To see if post event info alters memory Loftus (1975) – Showed 2 groups a film of a car accident. More participants remembered a non- existent broken headlight in the group that were asked – ‘Did you see the broken headlight?’, rather than ‘Did you see a broken headlight?’ Gave higher estimates and more likely to say they saw broken glass Conclusions Leading questions introduce new info Activate wrong schemas in witness’ mind

Evaluation AO2 of Loftus’ research: link to research methods. 16 Laboratory Experiment Validilty Artificial Ecological Validity Demand characteristics

Loftus and Palmer (1974) Criticisms:  Validity-May not be true to life because ppts may not take the task seriously and thus behaviour does not represent real EWT. Loftus has made a huge contribution to our understanding of EWT and her research is rigorous.  Participants all students – not a representative sample.  They might have guessed what was expected – demand characteristics. Real eyewitnesses are likely to be emotionally affected and know their testimony could have serious consequences. (Foster et al (1994) – witnesses more accurate in recalling memory of a bank robbery when they were led to believe their testimony would influence a real trial.) Some research has shown that if circumstances are right then witness recall can be very accurate such as Yuille & Cutshall (1986)

Implications Loftus says that EWT are little more than guesses. These findings were highly influential in the writing of The Devlin Report, which concluded that, unless circumstances were highly unusual, EWT should not result in a conviction in an English court in the absence of other evidence!

Quiz 19

Exam Questions 1.When police question eyewitnesses it is easy to unconsciously ask questions that may “lead” the eyewitness to give predictable answers. This is misleading information a)Give an example of such “misleading information” (2 marks) b)Explain why misleading information is a problem for police (2marks) interviews 2.Describe one study of the effects of misleading information on EWT (6 marks) 3. Explain one threat to the validity of the study you described above (3 marks) 4. Outline and evaluate research on the effect of misleading information on EWT (12 marks) 20

Plenary Have you learnt about Loftus and Palmer’s research? Are you able to critique the technique and the research? Can you apply this knowledge to exam style essay questions ? Write down one thing you have learnt this lesson on the post it note.