Factors Affecting EWT

Question 1

What are the two factors that affect EWT?

Answer 1

Misleading information and anxiety

Question 2

What are the two types of misleading information?

Answer 2

Leading questions and post event discussion

Question 3

What are leading questions?

Answer 3

Questions that increase the likelihood that an individual’s schemes will influence them to give a desired answer

Question 4

What is post event discussion?

Answer 4

It concerns misleading information being added to a memory after the event has occurred, with research indicating that false memories can be stimulated by misleading post event experiences

Question 5

Who researched leading questions?

Answer 5

Loftus and Palmer

Question 6

What was the aim and method of Loftus and Palmers experiment into leading questions?

Answer 6

To investigate the extent to which participants estimates of speed of cars involved in accidents witnessed on video could be influenced by misleading questions. They showed 45 university students a film of a road accident involving a number of cars. After seeing the film participants were asked a key question ‘how fast were the cars going when they …… into each other? The verbs changed in each condition. They were contacted, hit, collided, bumped and smashed

Question 7

What were the findings and conclusion of Loftus and Palmers study into leading questions?

Answer 7

Those who were asked the smashed questions thought that the cars were found faster than those who were asked the other questions. Contacted 32mph, hit 34mph, bumped 38mph, collided 39mph and smashed 41mph. This shows that leading questions can have a negative effect on the accuracy of EWT

Question 8

Who investigated post event information?

Answer 8

Loftus and Palmer

Question 9

What was the method of Loftus and Palmers study on post event information?

Answer 9

150 students watched a video of a car crash. 50 were asked the key question with the word smashed, 50 with the word hit and 50 weren’t asked at all. A week later they were asked did you see any broken glass, even though there wasn’t any

Question 10

What were the findings and conclusion of Loftus and Palmers study on post event information?

Answer 10

Those in the smashed condition were more likely to report seeing broken glass. This shows that post event information can also affect the accuracy of EWT

Question 11

What can you use to evaluate Loftus and Palmers studies?

Answer 11

Strengths and limitations of a lab experiment and sample problems

Question 12

Who conducted the second study onto the effect of post event information?

Answer 12

Loftus and Pickrell

Question 13

What was the aim and method of Loftus and Pickrells study onto post event information?

Answer 13

To investigate whether false memories could be created through the use of post event information. 120 students who had visited Disneyland in childhood were divided into 4 groups.

1. Read a fake Disneyland advert featuring no cartoon characters
2. Read the fake advert featuring no cartoon characters but were exposed to a cardboard figure of bugs bunny in the interview room
3. Read the fake Disneyland advert featuring bugs bunny
4. Read the fake Disneyland advert featuring bugs bunny and saw the cartoon cut out of bugs bunny

Question 14

What were the findings and conclusion of Loftus and Pickrells study?

Answer 14

30% of participants in group 3 and 40% of participants in group 4 remembered seeing bugs bunny when visiting Disneyland. This shows that through the use of post event information, false memories can be created affecting the accuracy of EWT

Question 15

What are two strengths of Loftus and Pickrells study?

Answer 15

It can be considered as more superior than Loftus’ car crash study because it uses memory of a real life event therefore increasing the generalisability of the findings. There are also practical application in that advertisers using nostalgic images to manufacture false positive memories of their products

Question 16

Who researched the negative effect on EWT?

Answer 16

Loftus

Question 17

What was the aim and method of Loftus’ study onto the negative effect of anxiety on EWT?

Answer 17

Loftus investigated the weapon effect. Loftus split her participants into 2 separate groups.
1. These participants overheard a low key discussion about an equipment failure. A person emerged from the lab holding a pen and with grease on his hands
2. Overheard a heated and hostile exchange between people in a lab. The sound of breaking glass and crashing chairs. A man emerged from the lab holding a knife covered in blood
All participants were given 50 photos and asked to identify the person who came out of the lab

Question 18

What were the findings and conclusion of Loftus’ study onto the negative effect of anxiety?

Answer 18

They found that those who witnessed the man holding the pen accurately identified him 49% of the time compared to those who witnessed the man holding a blood stained knife who were successful only 33% of the time. This shows that being anxious can have a negative effect on the accuracy of EWT

Question 19

What can you use for the evaluation of Loftus’ study on the negative effect of anxiety?

Answer 19

The strengths and limitations of a lab

Question 20

Who investigated the positive effect of anxiety on EWT?

Answer 20

Christianson and Hubinette

Question 21

What was the aim and method of Christianson and Hubinettes study on the positive effect of EWT?

Answer 21

He conducted a natural experiment to investigate the effect of anxiety on the accuracy of EWT. They surveyed 100 people who between them had witnessed 22 genuine bank robberies. Some of them were bystanders and others had been directly threatened

Question 22

What were the findings and conclusion of Christianson and Hubinettes study on the positive effect of anxiety on EWT?

Answer 22

Those who were subjected to the greatest anxiety had more accurate and detailed recall of the event. Anxiety may have a positive effect on the accuracy of EWT?

Question 23

What can you use to evaluate the effect of anxiety on EWT?

Answer 23

The strengths and limitations of a lab experiment

Question 24

What does the Yerkes-Dodson Law suggest?

Answer 24

Low levels of anxiety can lead to poor accuracy of EWT. Moderate levels of arousal can lead to optimal performance. High levels of anxiety can also lead to poor accuracy of EWT