Suggestive question
Encyclopedia
A suggestive question is one that implies that a certain answer should be given in response, or falsely presents a presupposition in the question as accepted fact. Such a question "tricks" the person into answering a specific way that may or may not be true or consistent with their actual feelings, and can be deliberate or unintentional. For example, the phrasing "Don't you think this was wrong?" is more suggestive than "Do you think this was wrong?" despite the difference of only one word. The former may subtly pressure the respondent into responding "yes," whereas the latter is far more direct.
Many of the early studies of memory (e.g. Bartlett
1932) demonstrate how memories are not always accurate records of our experiences. It seems that we try to fit past events into our existing representations of the world, making the memory more coherent or make more sense for us. For example a schema is a picture we carry in our minds to describe a certain environment. If you were asked to describe a restaurant, you would think of tables, chairs, plates, etc. Because of this, it is possible for people to ask a suggestive question to try and manipulate our memory, and thus reinforce their case. For example if you showed a person a picture of a child's room that contained no teddy bear, and then asked them, "Did you see a teddy bear?" you are not implying that there was one in the room and the person is free to answer. However if you ask, "Did you see the teddy bear?" it implies that one was in the room and the person is more likely to answer "yes", as the presence of a teddy bear is consistent with that person's schema of a child's room.
Experimental research by psychologist Elizabeth Loftus
has established that trying to answer such questions can create confabulation
in eyewitnesses. For example, participants in an experiment may all view the same video clip of a car crash. Participants are assigned at random in one of two groups. The participants in the first group are asked "How fast was the car moving when it passed by the stop sign?" The participants in the other group are asked a similar question that does not refer to a stop sign. Later, the participants from the first group are more likely to remember seeing a stop sign in the video clip, even though there was in fact no such sign. Such findings have been replicated and raise serious questions about the validity of information elicited through poorly phrased questions during eyewitness testimony
.
Many of the early studies of memory (e.g. Bartlett
Frederic Bartlett
Sir Frederic Charles Bartlett FRS was a British psychologist and the first professor of experimental psychology at the University of Cambridge. He was one of the forerunners of cognitive psychology...
1932) demonstrate how memories are not always accurate records of our experiences. It seems that we try to fit past events into our existing representations of the world, making the memory more coherent or make more sense for us. For example a schema is a picture we carry in our minds to describe a certain environment. If you were asked to describe a restaurant, you would think of tables, chairs, plates, etc. Because of this, it is possible for people to ask a suggestive question to try and manipulate our memory, and thus reinforce their case. For example if you showed a person a picture of a child's room that contained no teddy bear, and then asked them, "Did you see a teddy bear?" you are not implying that there was one in the room and the person is free to answer. However if you ask, "Did you see the teddy bear?" it implies that one was in the room and the person is more likely to answer "yes", as the presence of a teddy bear is consistent with that person's schema of a child's room.
Experimental research by psychologist Elizabeth Loftus
Elizabeth Loftus
Elizabeth F. Loftus is an American psychologist and expert on human memory. She has conducted extensive research on the misinformation effect and the nature of false memories. Loftus has been recognized throughout the world for her work, receiving numerous awards and honorary degrees...
has established that trying to answer such questions can create confabulation
Confabulation
Confabulation is the process in which a memory is remembered falsely. Confabulations are indicative of a complicated and intricate process that can be led astray at any given point during encoding, storage, or recall of a memory. Two distinct types of confabulation are often distinguished...
in eyewitnesses. For example, participants in an experiment may all view the same video clip of a car crash. Participants are assigned at random in one of two groups. The participants in the first group are asked "How fast was the car moving when it passed by the stop sign?" The participants in the other group are asked a similar question that does not refer to a stop sign. Later, the participants from the first group are more likely to remember seeing a stop sign in the video clip, even though there was in fact no such sign. Such findings have been replicated and raise serious questions about the validity of information elicited through poorly phrased questions during eyewitness testimony
Eyewitness testimony
Research in eyewitness testimony is mostly considered a subfield within legal psychology, however it is a field with very broad implications. Human reports are normally based on visual perception, which is generally held to be very reliable...
.