Loftus and Palmer

Question 1

What was the aim for experiemnt 1 in Loftus and Palmer’s study?

Answer 1

To see whether using different verbs to descibe a collision between two cars would affect estimates of the speed at which they were travelling.

Question 2

Describe the sample of study 1 of loftus and palmer’s study

Answer 2

45 students.

Question 3

What was the method and design of loftus and palmer’s study?

Answer 3

Lab experiment with independent measures design.

Question 4

Where were the film clips in Loftus and Palmer’s study from?

Answer 4

Training films used by the Seattle Police Department and the evergreen Safety council.

Question 5

What did the ps do after watching the films

Answer 5

the ps were asked to write an account of teh accident and then to answer a series of questions.

Question 6

what was the critical quetsion used?

Answer 6

‘About how fast were they cars going when they hit each other?

Question 7

What was the independent variable of study 1?

Answer 7

the verb used in the critical question: smashed, contacted, bumped, hit, collided.

Question 8

What was the dependent varible for study 1?

Answer 8

The mean estimated speed of teh car.

Question 9

What was the mean estimated speed for the verb smashed?

Answer 9

40.5

Question 10

What was the mean estimated speed for the verb collided?

Answer 10

39.3

Question 11

What was the mean estimated speed for the verb bumped?

Answer 11

38.1

Question 12

What was the mean estimated speed for the verb hit?

Answer 12

34.0

Question 13

What was the mean estimated speed for the verb contacted?

Answer 13

31.8

Question 14

What was teh estiamted speed when the car was actually tarvelling at:
1-20mph
2-30mph
3-40mph
4-40mph

Answer 14

37.7
36.2
39.7
36.1

Question 15

What were the 2 possible conclusions for study 1?

Answer 15

response bias- when a participant is unclear what speed to estiamte, the verb gives them a clue as to whther they should estimate a high or low figure.
memory distortion-the verb used in the question actually alters a ps memory of the crash.

Question 16

What was the aim of experiment 2?

Answer 16

To investiaget whther teh different speed estiamtes found in experiment 1 were in fact the result of memory distortion. this was done by seeng whther participants who heard the words associated with high-speed estiamtes would be more likely to incorrectly remmber broken glass at the crash site.

Question 17

Describe the sample in experiment 2

Answer 17

150 students

Question 18

Breifly explain the pocedure for experiemnt 2

Answer 18

same procedure but at the end of the film clips ps were given a questionairre and asked to descirbe the accident if their own own words and tehn to answer a series of questions. the critical q was teh same but 50 ps got the verb smashed, 50=hit50 were a control so got no q about speed. a week later ps returned and were aked a further 10 qs. teh critical q here was ‘did you see any broken glass?’

Question 19

how many ps said there was broken glass in the smashed condition?

Answer 19

16

Question 20

how many ps said there was broken glass in the hit condition?

Answer 20

7

Question 21

how many ps said there was broken glass in the control condition?

Answer 21

6

Question 22

What conclsuion were given for experiment 2?

Answer 22

The way that questions about an event are worded affect the way in those events are remebered. the reuslts are important because they strongly sugegst hat this is not due to response bias. instead it seems that post-event questions actually become apart of memory for that event. therefore, the wording of questions can actually distort event memory.