loftus and palmer and valetine and mesout Flashcards
aim
explore how info provided after an event in the form of leading questions might affect peoples memories which were 2 separate lab exp
procedure of the first exp
45 students from uni of washington, 7 videos of car crashes ranging from 4-30 seconds long, and short excerpts of films made for drivers ed and blind so ppt werent aware of speed and in randomised order
given standardised questionnaire with filler q, then asked a critical question ‘how fast were the cars going when they ____ into each other?’ smashed,collided,bumped,hit,contacted
results of exp 1
smashed was 40.8 mph and contacted 31.8
collided 39.3
bumped 38.1
hit 34
conclusions of exp 1
change of verb changed ppts estimate, so there is distortion of memory as its been reconrtructed by the verb
response bias where they may not of been sure so changed their answers
aim of second exp
aimed to show more conclusively that info provided after an event is capable of distorting memories
procedure of second exp
150 students from uni of washington, short film of multiple car crash lasting a min
one group asked how fast they were going when smashed into each other
how fast cars were going when they hit each other
final group werent asked q about speed of cars
then recalled a week later to be asked questions with critical question if they had seen broken glasss
results of second exp
smashed-10.5, hit 8 mph
so wording does affect speed, higher proportion of ppt said smashed 32% saw broken glass, hit was 14% and control 6% saw
also shows id
conclusions of second exp
mmeory is reconstructed by post event info labels attached to car crash affected memories and smahed led to them to incorporate idea of broken glass
overall conclusions on loftus and palmer
The reconstructive memory hypothesis is supported info from 2 sources are integrated so impossible to separate
EWT to car crashes are not good at estimating speeds of vechiles involved
leading questions can influence memory of EWT
unreliable
generalisability of loftus and palmer
ppts students so limited exposure of car speeds therefore reflecting in students so only represents a specific part of population being influenced by verbs so if older people used them findings may be different
reliability of loftus and palmer
lab so high control e questions asked and film clips kept constant and use of yes or no in broken glass means quantitative data so objectivity bias is reduced so reliable
application of loftus and palmer
cognitive process of memory can be distorted by other info and memory isnt a tape recorder its a dynamic process which can be influenced eg 16/50 who had ‘smashed’ said yes and 7/50 who said hit said yes
validity of loftus and palmer
critical questions were random among other questions preventing ppts from guessing aim of the study and displaying demand characteristics which would have changed results and minimises liklihood and experimenter knew the speed of the cars so could assess whether estiamtes were affected by actual speeds of cars and use of yes/no quantitive data
however eco valid is low not a real car crash driver ed vid in first exp
ecological validity of loftus and palmer
knew the study was a safe enviroment so were relaxed and not motivated to remember and be observant of details, also they didnt witness the accident irl and this emotional response can make the event more memorable therefore ppts memory was unrepresentative and unrealistic
aim of valentine and mesout
to test catastrophe model, test ability of eyewitnesses to correctly identify and describe a person in a real life situation that poses a personal threat
aim of v and m part 1 (this part of the study was correlation)
validate subjective self-report measure of anxiety- state trait anxiety inventory to see if it correlated with heart rate (in main study they didnt want them use heart rate monitors)
confirm exp of scary person did actually result in high levels of arousal and anxiety
procedure of part one v and m
18 ppt mean age 26.1 and 10f and 8m
informed consent givenand wireless heart rate strapped and average baseline measured walking slowly for 7min
entered labyrinth normally and actor block path and walked slowly for 7 min then did rest of the tour of dungeon
45 after leaving reported how they felt using SAI
results of part one v&M
heart rate higher in labyrinth compared to baseline 74.7 and in labyrinth it was 86.9 -which correlated with SAI and strong +ve correlation 0.76
mean SAI in labyrinth was 49 higher than mean trait anxiety score 36.8 so its scary
conclusions of study 1 v&m
labyrinth and scary person were scary,SAI valid measure due to concurrent validity
aim of part 2 v&m
to test catastrophe model, test ability of eyewitnesses to correctly identify and describe a person in a real life situation that poses a personal threat
particiapnts in part 2 v and m study
27f and 29m mean age 31 between 18-54
procedure in part 2 v and m study
agreed to do questionnaire no consent normal visit, walked around slowly for 7 min and were pointed out to scary person and finished tour
after leaving purpose explained and conset asked and right to withdraw then did STAI and questionnaire on scary person wh free recall and cued recall items and identify 9 line up
results in part 2 v and m study
mean state anxiety score of 49 higher than state anxiety norms so they were scared- mean trait anxiety score 36.8
52.8 for females males 45.3 and males had more correct identifcations 19/29 than females 7/27
conclusions in part 2 v and m study
supports catastrophe theory
stress and anxiety situations = drop in memory supports valdiity of lab based studies as this was naturalistic EWT more vulnerable to effects of stress in females
generalisability in part 2 v and m study
both genders used 29f and 27m,volunteer sample to go to a scary place influenced anxiety levels no older ppl
reliability in part 2 v and m study
internal validity high standardised intructions and procedures given eg tours,questionnaire,identify scary person and high external other studies prodced similar results
applications in part 2 v and m study
police and judges need to take emotional state into account
eco validity in part 2 v and m study
high real world setting london dungeons naturalistic therefore representative however they didnt recall an actual crime
validity in part 2 v and m study
high internal vaidity due to controls and ensured to be scary experience and study 1
wearing a heart monitor could made someone feel nervous not an everyday thing and concurrent validity
