Chapter 4 - Loftus & Palmer Flashcards
What was the aim of the loftus & Palmer study?
To investigate whether phrasing a question differently can influence the judgement of the speed of a car
What method was used in the study?
A laboratory experiment
What type of data was collected?
Quantitative, as well as being primary
What level of data was collected?
Interval data (MPH)
What experimental design was used?
Repeated Measures design
What was the IV’s in experiment 1?
Different verbs were used
Give examples of the words used in the experiment ?
5
Smashed Hit Contacted Collided Bumped
What were the IV’s in experiment 2?
Different verbs were used, in addition to the critical question of if there was “any broken glass”
What was the mean speed estimated for the word “smashed”?
40.5mph
What was the mean speed estimated for the word “collided”?
39.3mph
What was the mean speed estimated for the word “bumped”?
38.1mph
What was the mean speed estimated for the word “hit”?
34.0mph
What was the mean speed estimated for the word “contacted”?
31.8mph
How many participants were used?
45 student participants
What were the films of?
They were seven film segments from the evergreen safety council of the Seattle police station, each segment lasting 5 to 30 seconds of car crashes (4 in which were staged
How is the reliability for in this study?
2
- Highly controlled makes it replicable
- Showed that memory of an event can be distorted by information introduced afterwards e.g leading questions distorted memory
How is the ecological validity?
3
- It is low in ecological validity due to it being a laboratory experiment
- In this study, the participants were shown films of car crashes which in reality, accidents happen spontaneously in which our memory would be much different.
- Also the films were in a controlled environment and memory may be better compared to reality in which memory may be distorted from stress of experiencing a real crash.
Weakness of validity in this study?
The validity in this study may be affected through demand characteristics, with the participants thinking that they are suppose to remember glass in which may be an invalid way to demonstrate how leading questions can affect memory.
Strength of validity in this study?
High in validity as the procedure was standardised e.g the films, tasks and questions asked
What is the issue with ethnocentrism?
2
In this study ethnocentrism can be seen as an issue as it was a study that only consisted of university educated people which could show how their cognitive process works.
But the study focused on the physiognomy of the brain, it may not be ethnocentric as it focused on a species specific behavior.
What is the problem with genralisability in this study?
The genralisability in the study is low as the sample was college students.
How can you improve genralisability?
Loftus & Palmer could have collected samples through advertisments outside of the university or even to have collected the sample from the university library.
What is the usefulness of this study?
It is useful towards police officers it helps them understand the best way to question witnesses without misleading/distorting their memory with exaggerated words and leading questions
What are the ethical issues?
1
The findings are seen as ethically worthy as it contributes to the debate on how witnesses should/(not) be questioned in order to get correct information.
