Loftus and Palmer Flashcards
What area is Loftus & Palmer in?
cognitive area
What is Loftus & Palmer’s background?
Marshall (1969) Air Force Personnel unable to estimate the speed of a moving car - 12mph car estimated between 10-50mph
What is the aim of Loftus & Palmer’s first experiment?
to see if wording of questions influence participants estimates of speeds of cars
What is the aim of Loftus & Palmer’s second experiment?
to see if leading questions distort memory
What is the method design of Loftus & Palmer’s first experiment?
lab experiment
independent measures
snapshot study
What is the method design of Loftus & Palmer’s second experiment?
lab experiment
independent measures
longitudinal study
What is the sample of Loftus & Palmer’s first experiment?
45 American students
What is the sample of Loftus & Palmer’s second experiment?
150 American students
What materials were used in Loftus & Palmer’s first experiment? (what did they watch)
7 film clips- 5-30 seconds long
different traffic accidents- originally made for a driver’s education program for the Evergreen Safety Council + Seattle Police Department
questionnaire
What materials were used in Loftus & Palmer’s second experiment?
1 minute video- 4 second multiple car accident
questionnaire
What was the critical question in Loftus & Palmer’s first experiment?
‘About how fast were the cars going when they __ each other?’
What were the different experimental groups Loftus & Palmer’s first experiment?
5 different verbs:
smashed, collided, bumped, contacted, hit
How many participant’s were in each group in Loftus and Palmer’s first experiment?
9 per group- 45 overall
What were the different experimental groups Loftus & Palmer’s second experiment?
group 1- smashed
group 2 - hit
group 3 - control
What was the critical question in Loftus & Palmer’s second experiment?
‘How fast were the cars going when they ___ into each other?’
What did Loftus & Palmer’s second study ask in its questionnaire?
to describe the accident
series of specific questions on the accident
critical question on speed
After how long were Loftus and Palmer’s participants asked to return in the second experiment?
1 week
What critical question did Loftus & Palmer ask in the second experiment (1 week later)? How many other questions asked?
‘Did you see any broken glass?’
embedded into a 10 question list
Which of the verbs used in Loftus and Palmer’s first experiment had the highest estimated speed given? What speed?
smashed
40.8mph
Which of the verbs used in Loftus and Palmer’s first experiment had the lowest estimated speed given? What speed?
contacted
31.8mph
How fast did participants say the cars were going in Loftus & Palmer’s second experiment?
smashed- 10.46mph
hit- 8mph
In each group, how many said they saw broken glass in Loftus & Palmer’s second experiment?
smashed - 16/50
hit - 7/50
control group - 6/50
What correlation did Loftus & Palmer find in his second experiment?
the faster the cars estimated = more likely to report broken glass
What 2 sources did Loftus & Palmer propose that memory is determined by?
own perception made at time of the event
external info given after the event
What explanations does Loftus & Palmer say about why wording of questions changes behaviour?
response-bias factor - different words have different effects eg. smashed = high impact accident = high estimate of speed
memory is altered - changes perception of accident eg. more serious accident stored in memory
