STUDIES - Kahneman et al (1993)

Question 1

Aim

Answer 1

• To investigate the effect of the end of an experience on the participants’ recollection of it

Question 2

Procedure

Answer 2

STEPS

• Stage 1: Participants were asked to hold their hand up to the wrist in painfully cold water for 1 minute, and with their free hand they recorded how strong the pain was with 1 finger being little to no pain and 5 fingers being strong pain
• After a short break, participants had to choose between 2 conditions:
  — Condition 1: Repeat what they had just done and submerge their hand in freezing water for 1 minute
  — Condition 2: 1 minute like condition 1 but then 30 seconds of slightly warmer water flowing into the tub to raise the temperature slowly

METHOD

• Repeated measures design with 2 stages:
  — Stage 1: 1 minute of immersion in water at 14ºC, and after the experimenter instructed them to take their hand out to a warm towel
  — Stage 2: Either condition 1 or condition 2

Question 3

Results

Answer 3

• 80% of participants chose Condition 2 despite the same length of minutes in freezing water in both conditions
• The second trial was longer was not taken into account by the participants (duration neglect), they were basing their choice on how the condition ended rather than an overall assessment of the pain

Question 4

Limitations

Answer 4

• Ethical considerations: Protection from harm was not met