Loftus and Palmer (1974) Flashcards
What was the aim of Loftus and Palmer’s study?
To see the effect of changing a verb in a leading question and if this verb changes the participants memory.
What research method and design was experiment 1?
This is was laboratory experiment , and the experimental design was independent measures.
Outline the participants used in experiment 1.
45 students from the University of Washington.
How many film clips did each participant have to watch and how long were they in experiment 1?
Participants watched 7 film clips each 5-30 seconds long.
What did the participants have to do after each clip in experiment 1?
After each clip participants completed a questionnaire which contained a critical question.
What was the critical question in experiment 1 and what were the conditions.
The critical question was: “About how fast were the cars going when they ***** each other?”. There were 5 verb conditions: ‘contacted’ , ‘hit’ , ‘bumped’ , ‘collided’ and ‘smashed’.
What was the largest and smallest estimates for the speed of cars and which verb conditions were these for?
The largest was 40.8mph with the verb ‘Smashed’ , and the smallest was 31.8mph with the verb ‘Contacted’.
What do the results of experiment 1 conclude about memory?
That it can be influenced by a leading question and that the more violent the verb, the higher the estimate for speed was.
What was the aim of experiment 2?
To see if the ‘smashed’ condition is more likely than 2 other groups (‘hit’ and control) to say they saw broken glass when there wasn’t any.
What was the research method and design of experiment 2?
Experiment 2 was also a lab experiment and the design was independent measures.
Outline the participants used in experiment 2.
150 student participants divided into 3 groups of 50.
What were the conditions of experiment 2 and what questions were asked in the first questionnaire?
There were 3 conditions: Smashed, Hit and control. In the first questionnaire they were asked ‘About how fast were the cars going when they ***** into each other’ (the control group were not asked a question).
When was the second questionnaire completed and what did it consist of?
The second questionnaire was completed 1 week after the participants watched the film clips, and they were asked whether they saw broken glass or not.
What did the film clip consist of?
A multiple car crash. The clip lasted less than 1 minute (accident lasted 4 seconds).
What were the main results of experiment 2?
In the smashed condition, 16 people said they saw broken glass, whereas in the hit condition, 7 people said they saw broken glass (control only 6 people said they saw broken glass).
