Loftus and Palmer Flashcards
What was the aim for experiemnt 1 in Loftus and Palmer’s study?
To see whether using different verbs to descibe a collision between two cars would affect estimates of the speed at which they were travelling.
Describe the sample of study 1 of loftus and palmer’s study
45 students.
What was the method and design of loftus and palmer’s study?
Lab experiment with independent measures design.
Where were the film clips in Loftus and Palmer’s study from?
Training films used by the Seattle Police Department and the evergreen Safety council.
What did the ps do after watching the films
the ps were asked to write an account of teh accident and then to answer a series of questions.
what was the critical quetsion used?
‘About how fast were they cars going when they hit each other?
What was the independent variable of study 1?
the verb used in the critical question: smashed, contacted, bumped, hit, collided.
What was the dependent varible for study 1?
The mean estimated speed of teh car.
What was the mean estimated speed for the verb smashed?
40.5
What was the mean estimated speed for the verb collided?
39.3
What was the mean estimated speed for the verb bumped?
38.1
What was the mean estimated speed for the verb hit?
34.0
What was the mean estimated speed for the verb contacted?
31.8
What was teh estiamted speed when the car was actually tarvelling at:
1-20mph
2-30mph
3-40mph
4-40mph
37.7
36.2
39.7
36.1
What were the 2 possible conclusions for study 1?
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.
What was the aim of experiment 2?
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.
Describe the sample in experiment 2
150 students
Breifly explain the pocedure for experiemnt 2
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?’
how many ps said there was broken glass in the smashed condition?
16
how many ps said there was broken glass in the hit condition?
7
how many ps said there was broken glass in the control condition?
6
What conclsuion were given for experiment 2?
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.