Loftus and Palmer

Question 1

ecological validity?

Answer 1

Loftus and palmer aimed to investigate if leading questions could distort EW recall. The pps watched a video of a multiple car accident in a laboratory setting. This is an artificial task and is not set in a natural environment. This is a weakness because both the task and the setting are artificial and lack ecological validity, thereof in a real life situation EW recall may be different due to stress.

Question 2

generalisability

Answer 2

the sample consisted of 45 University students from Washington. This means that the sample is not representative of the general population as it only consists of US individuals. Therefore, the studies findings may not be applicable in real-life situation in different cultures as the sample is not generalisable.

Question 3

replicability + reliability?

Answer 3

after the pps watched the video the experimenter asked them to estimate the speed of the car using different verbs such as ‘collided’ ‘smashed’ ‘’bumped’. This means that the study had a set pattern and standardised procedure. This is a strength as it will allow other researchers to easier replicate the study and achieve similar results. Meaning it has real life application.

Question 4

application?

Answer 4

The study found that leading questions and the use of different verbs did affect EW recall. This is a strength as it allows EW memory distortion to be taken into account, and will allow police departments and others to understand the effect of their questions and input. This means that the study has real life application s it can be used when questioning EWs.