A police service is choosing between two programmes for interviewing witnesses.
Programme R trains officers to avoid leading questions. It is based on the view that focusing on one controlled influence provides the most dependable way to reduce inaccurate recall.
Programme W includes the same training but also requires officers to consider the witness's anxiety, age, viewing conditions and the time since the event.
In a pilot study, 200 adults were randomly allocated in equal numbers to four conditions. They witnessed a staged incident designed to produce either lower or higher anxiety. They were then interviewed using either neutral or leading questions.
The table shows the percentage in each condition who reported at least one inaccurate detail.
| Anxiety during the incident | Neutral questions | Leading questions |
|---|---|---|
| Lower anxiety | 16% | 38% |
| Higher anxiety | 36% | 58% |
Use your knowledge and understanding from across the psychology course to explain how far the findings justify the police service choosing Programme R rather than Programme W.
In your answer you should refer to the theory of reconstructive memory and at least one other area of psychology.
84 exam-style questions on OCR GCSE Psychology 5.2 Theories/Explanations, covering 5.2.1 Multi-store Model structure, 5.2.2 Differences between memory stores; criticisms, 5.2.3 Multi-store Model research study: Wilson et al. (2008), 5.2.4 Reconstructive memory: schemas, experience and expectation, 5.2.5 Reconstructive memory: confabulation and leading questions; criticisms, and 5.2.6 Reconstructive Memory research study: Braun, Ellis and Loftus (2002). Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.