Memory in Everyday Life - EyeWitness Testimony by Titch

LEADING QUESTIONS

Titch — 2014-01-25 10:53:27 UTC

A question phrased in a particular way to prompt a specific answer

Titch — 2014-01-25 10:55:23 UTC

What colour was the mans hat?

Leads you to believe the man was wearing a hat

Titch — 2014-01-25 10:55:54 UTC

Was the man wearing a hat?

Open question, not directing you to a conclusion about the hat

Loftus and Palmer (1974)

Titch — 2014-01-25 11:33:52 UTC

Aim:

Does language used have the ability to alter memories

Procedure:

5 conditions

Showed participants a video clip of a traffic collision

Participants were asked to estimate the speed of vehicles when they

hit/smashed/collided/bumped/contacted each other

Findings:

Different speeds were estimated by each group

Conclusion:

The use of different language can affect EWT

Published paper

Titch — 2014-01-25 11:46:42 UTC

Titch — 2014-01-25 12:34:16 UTC

Finding of Loftus and Palmer

Titch — 2014-01-25 12:51:19 UTC

Titch — 2014-01-25 16:52:15 UTC

The study employed students who are hardly representative of the population as a whole.

Titch — 2014-01-25 16:53:07 UTC

The study lacks ecological validity. The use of clips does not recreate the emotion of a real life incident.

Titch — 2014-01-25 16:56:25 UTC

The research has good experimental validity because it is replicable and is scientific because it can demonstrate a cause and effect relationship.

Titch — 2014-01-25 16:59:40 UTC

The findings of the research are generally judged to be correct when compared with real life cases of eye witness testimony.

WEAKNESSES

Titch — 2014-01-25 17:01:56 UTC

STRENGTHS

Titch — 2014-01-25 17:25:13 UTC

SCHEMA

Titch — 2014-01-25 17:30:53 UTC

Cognitive framework or concept of a situation

Titch — 2014-01-25 17:33:52 UTC

Schemas can allow us to interpret large amounts of information in familiar settings. However they can also cause us to exclude details from our memory that don't fit our pre-existing ideas of the situation.

Schemas contribute to stereotypes and make it difficult to retain new, unfamiliar information

List (1986)

Titch — 2014-02-01 11:58:21 UTC

Aim:
Investigate the effect of schemas on EWT
Procedure:
Drew list of elements that may occur in shoplifting scenarios.
P's had to rate in order of how likely these were to occur in a shoplifting incident.
Compiled a video of 8 shopliftings including elements rated common and non-common.
Showed new participants.
Week later asked P's to recall events of video
Findings:
More likely to recall high probability than low.
Reported seeing high probability elements that weren't in video.
Conclusion:
P's lost exact replica of video over time.
Blending elements of their own knowledge and experience to make it more memorable.

Tuckey and Brewer (2003)

Titch — 2014-02-01 12:18:38 UTC

Aim:

Investigating effects of schema on EWT

Procedure:

Found schema of robbery = dark clothes, male, etc.

Showed video of robbery.

Findings:

P's had better recall of elements of film that conformed to their own schema

Conclusion:

Schema affects memory and recall of an event.

Prezi link - schema

Titch — 2014-02-01 12:32:35 UTC

AGE

Titch — 2014-03-19 10:21:04 UTC

ANXIETY

Titch — 2014-03-19 10:22:33 UTC

Poole and Lindsay (2001)

Titch — 2014-03-19 10:22:46 UTC

Aim:

Investigate the effects of age on EWT

Procedure:

Children aged 3 to 8

Shown science demonstration

Later parents told them a story containing information about science demonstration as well as extra information

Children were then questions about the demonstration

Later children were asked to think carefully about where they got the information from (source monitoring)

Findings:

When children were first asked:

They incorporated information from both the demonstration and the story

When asked where they got their information from (source monitoring)

Older children revised their account of what happened, extracting information from the story
Uounger children were unable to do this

Conclusion:

There are important implications in the accuracy of EWT of young children as they are unable to perform source monitoring

WEAKNESSES

Titch — 2014-03-19 10:35:28 UTC

Younger children 3/4 may not understand the instruction also may not be paying attention properly
Harder to eliminate extraneous variables than highly controlled lab experiment

ETHICAL ISSUES

Titch — 2014-03-19 10:37:47 UTC

Young children can't give informed consent

Parents must give consent for them

STRENGTH

Titch — 2014-03-19 10:39:47 UTC

Children were with familiar people so less susceptible to investigator effects

Loftus (1979)

Titch — 2014-03-19 10:45:39 UTC

Aim:

Investigate the effects of anxiety on EWT

Procedure:

Participants asked to sit outside a lab

they thought they heard exchange between people

Condition 1

heard amicable discussion
A man with greasy hands came out holding a pen

Condition 2

Heard hostile discussion
followed by glass breaking
Man walked out holding knife and covered in blood

Findings:

Conclusion:

Titch — 2014-04-26 15:15:11 UTC

Titch — 2014-04-27 08:49:44 UTC

Titch — 2014-04-27 08:57:29 UTC

Titch — 2014-04-27 09:01:48 UTC

Titch — 2014-04-27 09:06:03 UTC