loftus and palmer

Question 1

study

Answer 1

To test whether the language used in eyewitness testimony can alter memory Loftus and Palmer (1974) asked people to estimate the speed of motor vehicles using different forms of questions, this involved 2 experiments

Question 2

experiment 2 procedure

Answer 2

150 students were shown a film which featured a car in an accident. Afterwards the students were questioned about the film. The independent variable was the type of question asked. 50 students were asked ‘how fast were the car going when they hit each other?’, another 50 ‘smashed’ and the remaining 50 participants were not asked a question at all (i.e. the control group). A week later they were asked Did you see any broken glass? There was no broken glass on the original film.

Question 3

experiment 2 findings

Answer 3

Smashed: 16 saw, Hit: 7 saw, nothing: 6 saw. This research suggests that memory is easily distorted by questioning technique and information acquired after the event can merge with original memory causing inaccurate recall or reconstructive memory.

Question 4

experiment 1 procedure

Answer 4

Forty-five American students formed an opportunity sample. This was a laboratory experiment with five conditions
7 films of traffic accidents were presented in a random order to each group.
After watching the film participants were asked to describe what had happened as if they were eyewitnesses. They were then asked specific questions, including the question “About how fast were the cars going when they (smashed / collided / bumped / hit / contacted) each other?”

Question 5

experiment 1 findings

Answer 5

The estimated speed was affected by the verb used. The verb implied information about the speed, which systematically affected the participants’ memory of the accident.
The participants in the “smashed” condition reported the highest speed estimate followed by “collided”, “bumped”, “hit” and “contacted”

Question 6

conclusion

Answer 6

Response-bias factors: The misleading information provided may have simply influenced the answer a person gave (a ‘response-bias’) but didn’t actually lead to a false memory of the event.

Question 7

evaluation

Answer 7

lacked mundane realism as Participants viewed video clips rather than being present at a real life accident. Yale and cutshall found that misleading information did not alter the memory of people who had witnessed a real armed robbery. Only uses students- Population validity. However it can be replicated as it’s a lab experiment.