Outline and Evaluate Research Into the Effect of Misleading Information on the Eyewitness Testimony.

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Outline and evaluate research into the effect of misleading information on the eyewitness testimony. The dictionary definition of misleading information is – Any wrong or misleading information given to the insurer, which may affect underwriting decision. Loftus (1975) experimented the effects of misleading information by showing participants a video clip of a car accident then later splitting the group in half. The first group were asked the simple question “How fast was the white sports car going while travelling along the country road?” This was obviously the controlled question. Others were asked the misleading question “How fast was the white car going when it passed the barn while travelling along the country road?” After a week followed all participants were asked “Did you see the barn?” 17% of the participants asked the misleading question claimed they had seen the barn but only 3% of the other participants said that the barn actually existed. This may be as they had a schema for country roads and barns and it would make sense for a barn to be there even if it wasn’t. This shows that a question that adds new information may change the memory of a witness to a crime. On the forehand as this experiment was a lab experiment there was good control and Loftus has made an important contribution to psychology with this experiment. On the other hand, the study lacked ecological validity/ mundane realism as this isn’t really an everyday situation so it’s very unrepresentative. Also the participants were only American college student which means this also lacked population validity. Another experiment Loftus has done also in 1975 was that participants were gathered in a room and while waiting witnessed a staged robbery of a professors red handbag being stolen. They were then asked a series of question and half the participants were asked whether the bag was brown.
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