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Factors effecting Eye Witness Testimony - Coggle Diagram
Factors effecting Eye Witness Testimony
Anxiety
evaluation
low ecological validity/ lacks mundane realism
contradictory theories
Pickel (1998)- surprise might be a cause
individual differences
High levels of anxiety may reduce accuracy
causes attentional field to narrow
weapons focus effect
researchers investicated how the presence of a weapon and the anxiety that may be produced, can affect the accuracy of EWT
Johnson and Scott (1976)
group 1 overheard a discussion about equipment failure then saw a person leave with a greasy pen
group 2 heard a hostile exchange and heard glass break then watched a person walk out of the room with a bloody paper knife
ppts had to identify the man who left the room from 50 photos
findings:
49% of group 1 identified the man
33% of group 2 identified the man
shows anxiety in the situation can reduce the accuracy of EWT as ppts were focused on the weapon
Loftus and Burns (1982)
ppts watched a version of a video- violent version watched a boy get shot in the face
in violent condition, ppts were very poor at remembering details about the shooter
Misleading Information
false memory is created after event
false info can be implanted into the brain by leading questions or post event discussion
original memory can be altered by new information
Post Event Discussion
evaluation
lacks ecological validity
demand characteristics/ internal validity
discussion after the event can distort memory of the original incident
Gabbert (2003)
showed effect of conformity
ppts were in pairs were each partner watched a different fil of the same incident
higher rates of errors when they discussed what they saw before recalling event to investigator (71% of ppts)
shows post event discussion can affect the accuracy of EWT
memory contamination
memory conformity
Leading Question
evaluation
lacks ecological validity
demand characteristics/ internal validity
Loftus and Palmer
ppts shown clip of car accident and asked "how fast the cars were going when they ... each other"
when the verb used was more dramatic, the higher speed the ppts guessed
10 mph difference between "contacted" and "smashed"