MEMORY IN
EVERYDAY LIFE
Factors Affecting EWT
•
AGE
STARTER - RECAP

Complete the gap-fill on the studies from last weeks lesson
How can we interpret this in terms of
anxiety and EWT?
Learning Objectives

To describe research into the effect of age on accuracy of eye
witness testimony

To evaluate research into the effect of age on accuracy of eye
witness testimony

To apply lesson knowledge to answer a past exam question
Anastasi and Rhodes (2006) – Own
Age Bias

3 participant groups – young, middle and older – what is the
experimental design???

Shown 24 photos of people representing all 3 age groups

Then had a distraction task

Then shown 48 photos – 24 (the ones they’d seen) 24 new faces

Participants had to correctly identify the faces they’d seen
Anastasi and Rhodes (2006) – Own
Age Bias

What does this study tell us about age and EWT?
Anastasi and Rhodes (2006) – Own
Age Bias

Evaluation
Strengths –
Weaknesses –

Think about the experimental method used and the setting – good
and bad points to this

Think about applying to EWT – is it an effective test of this? Is it
useful?
BUT….

Yarmey (1993) – see cognitive booklet

Found that there was no significant difference between someone's
age and their ability to recall the physical characteristics of a person
they had met earlier

Write some evaluative points to Yarmey’s research in your booklets –
again, think about how the experiment can relate to EWT in real-life
Your Task

Complete the rest of the section in your booklet using the textbook
(Page 102) – looking at children and accuracy of EWT

EXTENSION – EXAM QUESTION
1. Plan an answer to the following question:
“Outline and evaluate research into the effect of age on EWT”
(12 marks)
2. Start writing the answer!
Ceci and Bruck – Children as
witnesses

Interviewer bias – leading questions, want to get the child to confirm
their own thoughts

Repeated questions – children change answer second time

Stereotype induction – assume negative things about someone they
have previously heard bad stuff about

Encouragement to imaging – if think to hard they will imagine things
that didn’t happen

Peer pressure – information from others

Authority figures – desire to please detectives
Kent and Yuille (1987)

Found that 9 years olds were more likely than 14 year olds to pick
someone from a line-up even though the person they had seen
earlier wasn’t actually there
Learning Objectives

All of you will be able to:
-
Describe research into the effect of age on accuracy of eye witness
testimony
-
Evaluate research into the effect of age on accuracy of eye witness
testimony

Some of you will be able to:
-
Apply lesson knowledge to answer a past exam question