2.5: Misleading information Flashcards
A psychologist carried out a field experiment to investigate the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.
The participants were pupils and parents attending a school concert.
Just before the concert began, two professional actors had an argument on the stage.
During the argument, one actor pushed the other actor.
Both actors then left the stage.
Some of the audience were approached as they left the concert and were asked to take part in an experiment.
Those who agreed were taken to a quiet room and were asked some questions about the argument.
For some participants, the questions included, ‘Did you see the man in glasses push the other man?’’
In fact, neither man was wearing glasses.
The participants were then asked to describe the argument in their own words.
What is a field experiment? (2 marks)
A field experiment is an experiment conducted in a naturalistic environment, in ‘real-world’ settings rather than the laboratory, where the independent variable is controlled by researchers and as many other variables as possible are controlled
A psychologist carried out a field experiment to investigate the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.
The participants were pupils and parents attending a school concert.
Just before the concert began, two professional actors had an argument on the stage.
During the argument, one actor pushed the other actor.
Both actors then left the stage.
Some of the audience were approached as they left the concert and were asked to take part in an experiment.
Those who agreed were taken to a quiet room and were asked some questions about the argument.
For some participants, the questions included, ‘Did you see the man in glasses push the other man?’’
In fact, neither man was wearing glasses.
The participants were then asked to describe the argument in their own words.
Other than ethical issues, outline one weakness of using a field experiment in this investigation (2 marks)
Other than ethical issues, one weakness of using a field experiment in this investigation is replicability
A psychologist carried out a field experiment to investigate the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.
The participants were pupils and parents attending a school concert.
Just before the concert began, two professional actors had an argument on the stage.
During the argument, one actor pushed the other actor.
Both actors then left the stage.
Some of the audience were approached as they left the concert and were asked to take part in an experiment.
Those who agreed were taken to a quiet room and were asked some questions about the argument.
For some participants, the questions included, ‘Did you see the man in glasses push the other man?’’
In fact, neither man was wearing glasses.
The participants were then asked to describe the argument in their own words.
Other than ethical issues, outline one weakness of using a field experiment in this investigation (2 marks).
Other than ethical issues, one weakness of using a field experiment in this investigation is replicability.
It is difficult to exactly repeat field experiments, because the conditions are never exactly the same again, so they’re low in reliability
A psychologist carried out a field experiment to investigate the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.
The participants were pupils and parents attending a school concert.
Just before the concert began, two professional actors had an argument on the stage.
During the argument, one actor pushed the other actor.
Both actors then left the stage.
Some of the audience were approached as they left the concert and were asked to take part in an experiment.
Those who agreed were taken to a quiet room and were asked some questions about the argument.
For some participants, the questions included, ‘Did you see the man in glasses push the other man?’’
In fact, neither man was wearing glasses.
The participants were then asked to describe the argument in their own words.
Other than ethical issues, outline one weakness of using a field experiment in this investigation (2 marks).
Other than ethical issues, one weakness of using a field experiment in this investigation is replicability.
It is difficult to exactly repeat field experiments, because the conditions are never exactly the same again, so they’re low in reliability, why?
It is difficult to exactly repeat field experiments, because the conditions are never exactly the same again, so they’re low in reliability, as you cannot repeat the experiment, because you don’t know what the experimenter has controlled or not controlled
A psychologist carried out a field experiment to investigate the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.
The participants were pupils and parents attending a school concert.
Just before the concert began, two professional actors had an argument on the stage.
During the argument, one actor pushed the other actor.
Both actors then left the stage.
Some of the audience were approached as they left the concert and were asked to take part in an experiment.
Those who agreed were taken to a quiet room and were asked some questions about the argument.
For some participants, the questions included, ‘Did you see the man in glasses push the other man?’’
In fact, neither man was wearing glasses.
The participants were then asked to describe the argument in their own words.
Suggest why the psychologist included the question about the man in glasses (2 marks)
The psychologist included the question about the man in glasses, because it is a misleading question
A psychologist carried out a field experiment to investigate the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.
The participants were pupils and parents attending a school concert.
Just before the concert began, two professional actors had an argument on the stage.
During the argument, one actor pushed the other actor.
Both actors then left the stage.
Some of the audience were approached as they left the concert and were asked to take part in an experiment.
Those who agreed were taken to a quiet room and were asked some questions about the argument.
For some participants, the questions included, ‘Did you see the man in glasses push the other man?’’
In fact, neither man was wearing glasses.
The participants were then asked to describe the argument in their own words.
Suggest why the psychologist included the question about the man in glasses (2 marks).
The psychologist included the question about the man in glasses, because it is a misleading question, so to do what?
The psychologist included the question about the man in glasses, because it is a misleading question, so to assess the impact of misleading questions on the accuracy of eyewitness testimony and the extent to which information added after the event could influence the accuracy of recall (misleading information)
A researcher carried out an experiment to investigate misleading information. Participants were shown a photograph in which a man and a woman were talking. The photograph was then taken away and the participants were asked questions about it. Participants were randomly allocated to condition one or condition two.
Participants in condition one were asked:
Question A “How old was the youth in the photograph?”
Participants in condition two were asked:
Question B “How old was the man in the photograph?”
Why is Question A an example of misleading information? (2 marks)
Question A is an example of misleading information, because the word “youth” suggests the man was young.
His age would influence the answer
