Cognitive Approach - Classic Research: Loftus And Palmer (1974) Flashcards
How many experiments did Loftus and Palmer conduct
2
Where was the location of research and experimental design
Same for first experiment and second
- lab
- independent groups design
Outline the 1st experiment method
- 7 films shown of a traffic accident (from longer driver’s education safety film)
- participants are given a questionnaire about the crash
- the different conditions has a different word in the one special Q, ‘about how fast were the cars going when they ___ each other’
- the words ranged from: hit/smashed/collided/bumped/contacted
- participants gave their answers in mph
What was the sampling method for both experiments
Opportunity
How many participants were used in the first one
- 45
- 9 students in each condition
Explain the method for the 2nd experiment
- shown a film of a multiple car crash (film lasted less than 1 min), and these lasted less than 4 secs
- group1: ‘smashed’ Group2: ‘hit’ Group 3 weren’t asked (control group)
- 1 week later = participants return
- all groups do a questionnaire, but key Q is ‘Did you see any broken glass’
——> there wasn’t any in the film, but those who thought the cars went faster = expected glass to be there
How many students were used in the 2nd experiment
150 (50 participants in each group)
What did Loftus and Palmer believe about memory
Two types
- information gained at the time of the event
- information gained after the event (subsequent information)
Why was a 2nd experiment conducted
- in experiment one, she’s not sure if its: response bias or altered memory
——> experiment 2: confirms it was altered memory
In the study: how did they control the information gained at the time of the event
- did it in the lab (highly controlled environment)
- got this information from the film
In the study: How did they influence the information gained after the event
Through the wording of the Q
—> leading Q
What was the job of the leading Q
Change the information gained after the event
What were the results of experiment 1 for the different words
- smashed = 40.5 mph
- collided = 39.3 mph
- bumped = 38.1 mph
- Hit = 34.0 mph
- contacted = 31.8 mph
—> “Sam cooks breakfast Hot (and) crispy”
What did the results from experiment 1 suggest
- the more intense/aggressive the verb is = the higher the speed we remember
—> suggesting that its changing our memory - implies that memory isn’t always accurate: it can be altered
What type of data was collected in experiment 1
Quantitative (+some qualitative from the account of events Q)
Explain the impact of mental schemas from the verb ‘smashed’ on memory
- The schema associated with the different words influenced the different estimates
- e.g. schema for smashed suggests higher speeds than contacted
What were the 2 alternate explanations of the results in experiment 1
1) response-bias
- critical verb = influences a person’s response
- eg. If undecided between 30/40mph, if the verb was smashed = they chose the higher estimate
2) altered memory
- critical verb = changes a person’s memory
- e.g. smashed changes participants memory so that he actually ‘sees’ the accident being more severe than it was
What were the results in experiment 2
Smashed had the highest number of being thinking they saw glass
What type of data did Loftus and Palmer collect for experiment 2
Quantitative
Explain the impact of the leading Q ‘didi you see any broken glass’ on memory in experiment 2
- Although it did lead to most people’s memory not being changed, It still did change a few
- schema for smashed is likely to be associated with glass = so changes memory of event
Which one of Loftus and Palmer’s alternative explanation of experiment 1 did experiment 2 help support, explain why
2) altered memory
- critical words changes people’s memory so that their perception of the accident is affected
- findings from Ex2 show that this did happen to a few participants because of the verb smashed (they remembered glass that wasn’t there)
- hence this is evidence that it was altered memory
What was Loftus’ conclusion from the study
- two kinds of information goes into one’s memory
- the first = information gained during the perception of the original event
- the second = external information supplied afterwards
- overtime = these 2 informations become integrated in such a way that we can’t recall from which source some specific detail is recalled
What is the supporting evidence to Loftus and Palmers study
- Loftus and Pickrell (1995) ‘Lost in the Mall’
- Loftus and Zanni (1975) ‘Broken headlight’
What is the contradictory evidence to Loftus and Palmers study
- Loftus (1979) ‘Red wallet’
- Yuille and Cutshall (1986) ‘Real life robbery’
