Loftus, E. and Palmer, J.C (1974) Flashcards
What is eyewitness testimony?
A legal term, referring to the use of eyewitnesses to give evidence in court concerning the identity of someone who has committed a crime.
How can the eyewitness memory be explained using the computer analogy?
The witness retains the information for a period pf time. Memories may b lost or modified during retention (most forgetting takes place within the first few minutes of a retention interval) and other activities between encoding and retrieval may interfere with the memory itself.
What is the aim of experiment 1?
To investigate wether the effect of leading questions on the estimate of speed.
What are the procedures for experiment 1?
45 American university students were split into five groups, with 9 participants in each one. All groups were shown the same 7 short video clips of car accidents. All participants filled in a short questionnaire, that included a few filler questions and the critical question: ‘about how fast were the cars going when they ———— eachother ‘ . The verbs were hit, smashed, collided, bumped and contacted. Speed estimates were recorded in MPH
What is the method of experiment 1?
IV: the verb change
DV: the speed in MPH
Opportunity sample-used their university student.
What was the conclusion of experiment 1?
Two explanations have been suggested for the results:
-response bias: the different speed estimates occurred because the critical word influenced/biased the participants response.
-memory is altered: the results are due to the critical word (the verb) changing/distorting the participant’s memory so they actually perceive, (‘see’) the accident differently. I.e.more or less serious.
What are the findings of experiment one?
Smashed (40.8 MPH)
Collided (39.3 MPH)
Bumped (38.1 MPH)
Hit (34.0 MPH)
Contacted (31.8 MPH)
What do the findings show in experiment one?
Shows that the verb used in the question influenced the speed estimates given by the participants. When the verb ‘smashed’ was used, participants estimated that the cars were travelling at a higher speed than when the verb ‘contacted’ was used.
What is the aim of experiment 2?
To see if the leading question just biased the responses given to the questions, or whether th participants memory had actually altered the result of the leading questions.
