Eye witness testimony (EWT) can be crucial in criminal trials. Who found that 74% of suspects in 300 cases were convicted through EWT only?
Marshall (1969)
Baddelev (1997)
Fillmore (1971)
Inaccurate EWT is the main factor leading to false convictions.
The 'innocence project' claims that eyewitness misidentification is the single greatest cause for wrongful convictions in the USA, playing a role in how many convictions that were later overturned through DNA testing>
100%
50%
75%
25%
Which of the below are explanations offered for the inaccuracy of EWT?
Police/investigators may alter the witness's perception of the event, therefore effect what they recall.
Police/investigators may force the witness to change what they recall.
The witness may not have actually witnessed the event and make up something.
Leading questions may affect a witness's ability to judge the speed of vehicles, because people are quite poor at judging numerical details. Which of the below can be used as an example of this?
Marshall (1969) found that air force personnel observed a car travelling at 12 mph, their estimates varied from 10-50 mph.
Fillmore (1971) suggests that using the words 'smashed' or 'hit' implies differing rates of movement. Such words lead the listener to assume different consequences for the impacts to which they are referring, with 'hit' being perceived as gentler than 'smashed'
Fillmore (1971) found that air force personnel observed a car travelling at 12 mph, their estimates varied from 10-50 mph.
Baddelev (1997) suggests that using the words 'smashed' or 'hit' implies differing rates of movement. Such words lead the listener to assume different consequences for the impacts to which they are referring, with 'hit' being perceived as gentler than 'smashed'
What were the aims of Loftus and Palmer's study?
Overall aim- to investigate the accuracy or inaccuracy of memory, in particular the effect of leading questions on the estimate of speed.
Experiment 1- to investigate whether participants were good at judging speed.
Experiment 1- to investigate how the phrasing of a question (namely a leading question) can influence the speed estimates of participants who have witnessed a traffic accident.
Experiment 2- to investigate whether leading questions simply bias a person's response or actually alter the memory that is stored.
The sample was of 36 American College students gained by an opportunity sample.
They all watched ..... different film clips which ranged from ....... seconds each.
7, 5-30
8, 10-25
9, 5-25
After watching the clip participants received what?
A questionnaire.
A survey.
