Eye Witness Testimony

1
Eye Witness Testimony

• An evaluation of the work of Loftus

2
An evaluation of the work of Loftus

• The idea that memories about what has been
  witnessed can be changed put forward by Loftus
  has been challenged

3
An evaluation of the work of Loftus

• Bekerian Bowers (1983) if questions are asked
  that follow the order of events in strict
  sequence, (as opposed to the unstructured way
  employed by Loftus) they are not influenced by
  the bias introduced by subsequent questions.

4
An evaluation of the work of Loftus

• Baddeley (1995), the Loftus effect is due not
  to the destruction of the memory trace but
  rather, it is due to interfering with its
  retrieval

5
An evaluation of the work of Loftus

• Other researchers have also challenged the claim
  that eyewitnesses are as unreliable as Loftus
  claims when misinformation is blatantly
  incorrect, it has no effects on a witness'

6
An evaluation of the work of Loftus

• Findings suggest, that our memory for obviously
  important information, which is accurately
  perceived at the time, is not easily distorted, a
  finding confirmed in studies in which people have
  witnessed real (and violent) crime.

7
An evaluation of the work of Loftus

• Cohen (1993) suggests that people are more likely
  to be misled if
• The misinformation they are given concerns
  insignificant details which are peripheral to the
  main event,
• If the misinformation is given after a delay
  (when the memory has had time to fade)

8
An evaluation of the work of Loftus

• If participants are unaware they are being
  misinformed so they have no reason to distrust
  the information.

9
HOMEWORK

• Loftus and her colleagues have suggested that
  memory for witnessed events is often subject to
  distortion,
• To what extent does psychological research
  support the idea that eyewitness testimony is
  unreliable.
• 12 marks