Loftus And Palmer Describe #1

Question 1

What year was this experiment?

Answer 1

1974

Question 2

What type of experiment was it?

Answer 2

It was a laboratory experiment.

Question 3

What was the aim of the study?

Answer 3

The aim was to see if the phrasing of a question would affect estimates of speed, applying these finding to the idea of leading questions in court.

Question 4

What is a leading question?

Answer 4

A leading question is one that suggests to the witness what answer is desired or leads him or her to the desired answer.

Question 5

How many participants were there?

Answer 5

45

Question 6

What were the participants

Answer 6

students

Question 7

How many groups were the participants put into and how many participants were in each group?

Answer 7

5 group with 9 in each group.

Question 8

What did each film involve?

Answer 8

A traffic accident

Question 9

What did the participants have to do after every film?

Answer 9

After every film the participants had a questionnaire to fill in.

Question 10

What were the two parts to the questionnaire?

Answer 10

They were requires to give an account of the accident and then had to answer specific questions.

Question 11

What was the critical question?

Answer 11

The critical question was the one asking about the speed of the vehicles.

Question 12

What was the first group of 9 participants asked?

Answer 12

‘about how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?’

Question 13

What were the other four groups asked?

Answer 13

They same question as the first group but with the word smashed replaced with collided, bumped, hit or contacted.

Question 14

What were the five word options?

Answer 14

smashed, collided, bumped, hit or contacted.

Question 15

Why is the study an example of a laboratory experiment?

Answer 15

Because the procedure is controlled for all participants and the IV (which is the verb in the critical question) is deliberately manipulated whilst trying to keep all other variables constant.

Question 16

What is the IV in this study?

Answer 16

The IV is the verb in the critical question.

Question 17

What is the DV in this study?

Answer 17

The DV is the estimate of speed in mph given by participants.

Question 18

What did the results show overall?

Answer 18

The results showed that the verb ‘smashed’ produced the highest mean estimate of speed (40.5mph) and the verb contacted produced the lowest mean estimate (31.8mph).

Question 19

What was the mean speed estimate when the word smashed was used?

Answer 19

40.5 mph

Question 20

What was the mean speed estimate when the word bumped was used?

Answer 20

38.1 mph

Question 21

What was the mean speed estimate when the word contacted was used?

Answer 21

31.8 mph

Question 22

What was concluded by Loftus and Palmer?

Answer 22

The conclusion was that the wording of a question can affect a witnesses answer.

Question 23

What was the first explanation loftus and palmer gave for their findings?

Answer 23

Firstly, they argued that the results could be due to a distortion in the memory of the participant. The memory of how fast the cars were going could have been distorted by the verbal label which has been used to characterise the intensity of the crash.

Question 24

What was the second explanation loftus and palmer gave for their findings?

Answer 24

Secondly, they argued that the results could be due to response-bias factors or demand characteristics where the participant is not sure of the exact speed and therefore adjusts their estimate to fit in with the expectations of the questioner.