Loftus and Palmer 1974

Question 1

What was the aim of the experiments?

Answer 1

To see if information received after an event in the form of leading questions would change someone’s memory

Question 2

What experiment was used in experiment 1?

Answer 2

Laboratory

Question 3

What design was used in experiment 1?

Answer 3

Independent measures design

Question 4

How many participants were there in experiment 1?

Answer 4

45 students

Question 5

What apparatus was needed for experiment 1?

Answer 5

Equipment was needed to screen 7 films

Question 6

How long was each clip? Experiment 1

Answer 6

5-30 seconds

Question 7

What were the clips and how many had crashes in them?

Answer 7

Clips were safety promotion films and 4 of them had staged crashes in them

Question 8

What were the 2 parts to the questionnaire in experiment 1?

Answer 8

First they were asked to give an account of what they had just seen
Second they were asked a set of questions relating to the accident

Question 9

How did the researcher make sure there were no order effects?

Answer 9

Everyone watched the clips in different orders

Question 10

How long did experiment 1 last?

Answer 10

Hour and a half

Question 11

How was the IV manipulated in experiment 1?

Answer 11

By changing the verb in the critical question

Question 12

Why were there other questions in the questionnaire experiment 1?

Answer 12

So there weren’t demand characteristics

Question 13

What were the 5 verbs?

Answer 13

Collided
Smashed
Hit 
Bumped 
Contacted

Question 14

What was the IV experiment 1?

Answer 14

The verb used to test the participants

Question 15

What was the DV experiment 1?

Answer 15

The mean speed estimate

Question 16

What 2 types of information does Loftus believe affects our memory of an event?

Answer 16

Information gained at the time of the event

Information gained after the event

Question 17

What were the results for experiment 1?

Answer 17

People were not good at judging how fast a car is travelling
20mph - 37.7
30 - 36.2
40 - 39.7 and 36.1

Smashed - 40.5
collided - 39.3
bumped - 38.1
hit - 34
contacted - 31.8

Question 18

What two interpretations did Loftus and Palmer offer for why the wording affects participants? Experiment 1

Answer 18

Response bias - giving a response in a certain direction according to the situation - the word smashed gives a cue that the answer was 40 as it suggests a higher speed
The language used causes a change in participants memory of events - ppts thought it was more severe than it was

Question 19

Why did Loftus and Palmer do a second experiment?

Answer 19

They wanted to know which of there 2 interpretations were true

Question 20

What was the aim of experiment 2?

Answer 20

To see if ppts in the smashed condition would be more likely to see broken glass one week later than the ppts in the hit or control condition

Question 21

What was the research method? Experiment 2

Answer 21

Laboratory experiment

Question 22

What was the design? Experiment 2

Answer 22

Independent measures

Question 23

How many participants were there in experiment 2?

Answer 23

150 students

Question 24

How long was the clip in experiment 2?

Answer 24

Less than 1 min with the accident lasting less than 4 seconds

Question 25

What was the first questionnaire in experiment 2?

Answer 25

Completed straight after they saw the film clip asking ppts to describe the accident and to answer a series of questions. The critical question was the estimate of speed. There were 3 conditions

Question 26

What were the 3 conditions experiment 2?

Answer 26

Smashed
Hit
Control

Question 27

What was the second questionnaire experiment 2?

Answer 27

Contained 10 questions about the accident. The critical question was did you see any broken glass?

Question 28

When did participants fill in questionnaire 1 & 2 experiment 2?

Answer 28

On one day for 1 and returned a week later to do 2

Question 29

What were the results in experiment 2?

Answer 29

Ppts in smashed condition gave a higher estimated speed than those in hit condition (supporting exp1)
Participants in the smashed condition (16) were more likely to answer yes to the question about broken glass than the hit (7) and control (6) conditions

Question 30

What does the verb affect exp 2?

Answer 30

Verb affects estimate of speed and the likelihood of ppts thinking they had seen broken glass

Question 31

Conclusions

Answer 31

The question asked after an event can cause a reconstruction in someone’s memory of that event. The verb used can affect the speed estimate and whether someone recalls seeing broken glass
People are not good at judging vehicular speed

Question 32

What do Loftus and Palmer believe happened in experiment 2?

Answer 32

Loftus and Palmer believe ppts took in info from original scene and merged it with the info they received after the event.

Question 33

What was the IV in experiment 2?

Answer 33

Wording on a question in the questionnaire

Question 34

What was the DV in experiment 2?

Answer 34

Whether they answered yes or no to the question