complementary approaches have much to offer one another. ... Have you ever encountered a question that implied an expected answer? Leading questions .... prior to reading a narrative containing misleading post-event information that they .... confessions" and "deniers" in criminal trials', Medicine, Science and the Law.
Socul Eehayiout, Vol. I, 105-112(1986)
Individual Differencesand Experimentation: ComplementaryApproachesto Interrogative Suggestibility JONATHAN $r'. SCHOOLERand ELIZABETH F. LOFIUS U^iv.Biryol washington,USA
ABSTNACT Lcading qucstionsin policc intcrrogationscan havc a tubsrantialiftpac! on eyewirn€ss.s, r.pons. "feo diff€rcnt lpproachcs to rh. indu.nce of inr€rrogarorbiascsare rcli€vcdr the individuai diffcrcnccs approach (..8. Gudjonsron l'ld Clark. lhis issue) consided rhc frcroB that dctcrmine whv individuak r.sDond differcndv to lcadinc ouesrions: rh€ €xp€rim€nralapproach(c.g. Loft$. Millcr a;d Burns, t9?8) cxamincsjiffircnces in rhe conditio undcr which lcading qucstions arc likcly to rffecr witness€t rcpons. Thcac cornplcmcnraryapproachcahavc much ro off.r one anorhcr. Thc individual differences approachcould b.n€ft from considcringsomc of rh€ centralcognirivcn.chanisms. suchas 'di!.rcp.ncy d.rc€tion, that cxp€rim.ntation has id.arifi.d as m€diafing suggcadbilily. ExFrim€ntalists. ho'rcv.r, could cn.ich rheir flod.ls b:,rexplonng how diff€rcnccs ia pcnonality lnd co8nitivc abilitics innucnc. rhc itrlplcr of l$ding qu.sions
Hava you ever cncountarcda qucstion that implied an expectedanswer?Leading quastionsftequ.ndy plagu. lawyersin coun, survcy rcsaarchersin the 6cld, and policc in intanogadon situations.Intcftogations of all kinds can be .iddl€d wirh bias€srangingfrom subdeintonationsin pitch !o lorccful ass.rrions.In the caseof policc intcffogations lh€ issuc of intcftogator bias is parricularlv important bccausclivasarc oftcn al stakc, Sincapolice intewicwcB alc 6relv at thc sceoeof lhe cnm€, thcir biascs may havc little bcaling on what rcally happened.Considcring thc potantially harmful repcrcussionsof inaccurarcpolice biases. ir is imponani to know prcciscly how lhcy can influencc thc repo s of witnesses, suspcctsand victims. Onc linc of.esea.ch that h{s.xplorcd thc influ€nce of inrerrogator biases includeslhe many experimentsinvcstigrting ways in which posr-evenlsuggestions affcct subsequcnt eycwitness repo( (e-g. Bckerian and Bowers, 1983; Mccloskey and Zaragoza.1985iSchooler,Gerhardand Lofrus, 1986).ln a rypical study, subjectsview an evenl and arc latcr exposedto misleadinginfo.malion abour that €vcnt in lhe form of questionsor a narrativc. In such sirllalionsmany subjecb can bc induccd to incorporatelhe inacdrratefacts. Experimenralsrudi€s suchas thesehave help€dto delin€atcth€ condirionsunder which peopleare mosr
0885-6249/86/020105 -08$05.00 l986byJohn Wiley & Sons, Ltd. O
Received15luly 1985 AcceptedI5 July 1986
106
J.w. Schoalerand E.F Loftut
inform)tion For examptewatong3 duration likelv to acceptor rejectjtlggested *tll -ecrli .''in'or.r'."n incrers
