#27 - Global Reference, Must Be True

[ameliakate]

Hi –

I selected E for this question. I now realize E is incorrect because the author does not question a judge’s ability to disallow leading questions; the author indicates this practice alone does not prevent the effect of leading questions on witness testimony.

I do not understand the first part of answer choice D, however. What other factors tend to increase the eyewitness’s susceptibility? I thought the author was demonstrating that leading questions outside of the courtroom increase the possibility of fallacious testimony, which current methods of preventing leading questions do not address. So in my mind, no new factors were introduced to compound the effects of leading questions in the courtroom on witness testimony.

Thank you!

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi Amelia,

The trick to this one is realizing that leading questions aren't only an issue in the courtroom. As the introduction to the passage provides, this a problem not only with courtrooms, but anywhere that a witness may be asked questions before the courtroom testimony. Why? The passage explains that questions can influence a person's memory of an event, either questioning by a reporter, the police, or a lawyer. It can plant false ideas in someone's head, and that results in the increased likelihood of inaccurate testimony by a witness. That can occur even if a judge refuses to allow leading questions in the courtroom because by then it's too late! The damage could have already been done in earlier interviews about the event in question.

Hope that helps!
Rachael

[tug59567]

Hello Rachael/Powerscore,

Thank you for your response! Would it be correct to assume that "other factors" refers to, as the stimulus mentions, how memory wains over time and how the attention given to remembering a memory impacts the memory's accuracy?

I also don't see how you can conflate other situations with "factors" as it seems done in the explanation - some help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you and happy holidays!

[Adam Tyson]

The last paragraph of the passage suggests some of those other factors, tug. Those include the time elapsed since the event in question, and the degree to which a detail is central or tangential.

[landphil]

D is phrased to say that as susceptibility increases, the risk of inaccurate testimony due to other factors increases (such as time).

If it were phrased the other way I would totally agree: As time (for example) increases, one's susceptibility increases.

Is D right, however, because it was wrong of me to assume that when the answer choice here states "tends to increase as..." that I am taking whatever follows to be the dependent variable? Am I supposed to instead read "tends to increase as" as a statement about correlation rather than a relationship with a dependent and independent variable?

Thank you for your help!

[Delanoking1]

D is phrased to say that as susceptibility increases, the risk of inaccurate testimony due to other factors increases (such as time).

If it were phrased the other way I would totally agree: As time (for example) increases, one's susceptibility increases.

Is D right, however, because it was wrong of me to assume that when the answer choice here states "tends to increase as..." that I am taking whatever follows to be the dependent variable? Am I supposed to instead read "tends to increase as" as a statement about correlation rather than a relationship with a dependent and independent variable?

Thank you for your help!

I think your mistake is assuming that the increase in susceptibility is a temporal one. It could be one static in time, but varies from person to person, or as implied in the passage, the procedures that judges endorse. Therefore, systems or people in which leading questions have greater effects could result in factors such as time, having an even more intense effect.

[Adam Tyson]

I think we may be missing the real relationship that answer D is talking about. It's not about the relationship between the passage of time and the susceptibility of the witness to giving inaccurate testimony. It's between that increasing susceptibility and the testimony actually being inaccurate.

In other words, the more susceptible you become to having leading questions sway you, thanks to things like the passage of time and the introduction of new information, the more likely that your testimony will be inaccurate.

So, as landphil says, as time increases, so does susceptibility. But that susceptibility increases the likelihood of inaccurate testimony. That's what answer D is really saying.