Maass & Kohnken Describe Flashcards
Date
1989
Aim
The aim of the study was to look at the effectiveness of witnesses when they are exposed to an event whereby they are distracted by the presence of a syringe. This was to provide support for previous research into the effects of weapon focus.
What type of study/experiment is this?
This study is an example of a field experiment because an independent variable was manipulated in the participants’ natural setting (students at a university).
What was the sample?
86 American university students.
What were the participants told they were participating in?
They were told that they were participating in an experiment investigating the relation between sport-related physical activity and psychological well-being.
How did the experiment start?
After completion of two questionnaires, the participant was led into the experimental room, which was generously equipped with physiological measurement devices.
Where were the participants positioned and what were they made to wear?
The participant was seated in a reclining chair and asked to wear a chest belt
What were the participants told the chest belt did and what did it really do?
The participants were told that the chest belt served to monitor the subject’s breathing activity. In reality, this device assured that the participant would remain seated during the waiting periods; more importantly, this guaranteed that the distance between participant and target would be identical in all experimental sessions.
What did the experimenter do?
Left the room and retured a couple of times
What happened after one minute?
fter 1 min, a different female confederate (the target) entered the room wearing an unbuttoned white lab coat over the normal clothing, a stethoscope clearly visible in one pocket.
What did the target do?
The participants were approached by the target holding a pen or a syringe (the independent variable); she either told them or did not tell them that she would give them an injection.
What was the independent variable?
Whether the target was holding a pen or a syringe.
What were the participants asked after the experiment?
The participants were then asked how much detail they remembered about the woman and if they could identify her in a line-up (the dependent variable).
What was the dependent variable?
How much they remember about the woman and if they could identify her from the lineup
RESULTS. What fraction of participants falsely indicated the target in the line up?
1/ Two-thirds of all participants who had been confronted with the syringe falsely indicated one of the line-up members as the target.
3/ Participants remembered less facial detail the greater their fear of injections.
