Loftus And Palmer

Experiment 1
1. Method
  1. Laboratory Experiment
  2. Independent measures
2. Aim
  1. To investigate the effects of leading questions on an individual's ability to accurately remember events
3. Participants
  1. 45 students
  2. 5 conditions with 9 participants in each
4. Apparatus
  1. 7 film segments
    1. From Evergreen Safety Council of the Seattle Police Department
    2. Lasted between 5 and 30 seconds
    3. 4 were staged so speed was known
  2. 7 Questionnaires
    1. "Give and account of the accident"
    2. "About how fast were the cars going when they.....?"
      1. Verb at the end changed for each group
      2. Contacted/Hit/Bumped/Collided/Smashed
5. Results
  1. People are not very good at judging how fast a vehicle is actually travelling
    1. Estimate : 37.7mph
    2. Actual speed ; 20mph
  2. The verb in the question affected the eye witness answers
    1. Smashed ; 40.8mph
    2. Contacted : 31,8mph
6. Disscussion
  1. Two possible explanations for findings
    1. Due to repose bias factors
    2. The form of the question causes a change in memory
Experiment 2
1. Method
  1. Laboratory Experiment
  2. Independent Measures
2. Participants
  1. 150 students
  2. 3 groups 50 participants in each
3. Aim
  1. To investigate whether memory would be reconstructed as a result of information received after the event
4. Apparatus
  1. A film showing a multiple car accident
  2. 2 questionnaires
    1. Carried out on the day
      1. Describe the accident
      2. "How fast were the cars going when they.....?"
        Hit
        Smashed
        Control group were not asked about speed
    2. Carried out 1 week later
      1. 10 questions
      2. "Did you see any broken glass?"
5. Results
  1. Wording had an effect on speed estimation
    1. Smashed : 10.46mph
    2. Hit : 8mph
    3. The verb effects whether glass was thought to have been seen or not
      1. Smashed : 16 said yes
      2. Hit : 7 said yes
      3. Control: 6 said yes
6. Discussion
  1. Explanation
    1. Two kinds of information create a memory
      1. Information obtained at the event
      2. Information supplied after the event
      3. Merge to create one memory
    2. Reconstructive Hypothesis
Evaluation
1. Validity
  1. highly controlled and standardised
    1. Establish cause and effect
    2. High design validity
    3. May have suffered demand charecteristics
    4. Low ecological validity
2. Reliability
  1. Procedure highly standardised
    1. Re-done to test reliablilty
  2. Two experiments
    1. Results supported each other
3. Ethics
  1. Hypothesis was concealed
    1. Deception
    2. Avoided demand characteristics
  2. All safety films
    1. Did not cause distress
4. Data
  1. Quantitative
    1. Easily compare across conditions
    2. Easily summariesed
5. Sample
  1. Only students
    1. Cannot generalise
    2. Narrow age range
    3. Students are more obedient so may be more willing to comply
6. Ethnocentrism
  1. Investigating a behaviour shown in all humans
  2. Only reflect the cognitive processes of educated/ upper class people
Usefulness
1. Used by Police
2. Leading questions not allowed in court
3. Not easy to change memory
Links to area/perspective
1. Cognitive area
2. Cognitive process of memory
Links to key theme
1. Evidence on how memory is effected by information after an event
2. Effects of language on memory

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Loftus And Palmer

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	Created by Bethany Pass about 9 years ago