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Loftus and Palmer's study of altered memory - Coggle Diagram
Loftus and Palmer's study of altered memory
AIM
To investigate the effects of language on memory, expected that information received after the event in the form of leading questions would integrate into the participants memory
aim of second experiment was to see if pps asked the "smashed" question would be more likely than the other groups to report broken class in the accident (when there was actually none)
EXPERIMENT ONE
METHOD AND DESIGN: lab experiment using independent measures
PARTICPANTS: 45 students, 5 conditions with nine participants for each one
APPARATUS: 7 film segments (5-30 seconds long) of staged car crashes, along with questionnaires for each participant
PROCEDURE: all pps shown the clips and asked to complete the questionnaire afterwards. First they were asked to recount the incident and then were given questions such as the speed of the cars. The groups were shown the clips in different orders.
The IV was changing the word used to describe the crash in relation to how fast they were going (about how fast were the cars going when they
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RESULTS:
Part 1: accuracy of speed estimates
film actual speed estimated speed
1 20 37
2 30 36
3 40 40
4 40 36
Part 2: does changing the verb alter speed estimates?
verb estimated speed
smashed 41
collided 39
bumped 38
hit 34
contacted 31
EXPERIMENT TWO
METHOD AND DESIGN: lab experiment with independent measures
PARTICIPANTS: 150 students divided into 3 groups
APPARATUS: clip of 1 min, crash only 4 seconds, each pp given 2 questionnaires immediately after viewing- 1 group asked "smashed", 1 group asked "hit" and 1 group not asked about speed. second questionnaire "did you see broken glass?"
PROCEDURE: two part procedure with pps seeing the film and filling in the three versions of questionnaire 1 on the day and returning after a week for questionnaire 2
RESULTS: pps in the "smashed" condition gave significantly highly speed estimates than the others
"did you see glass?":
response "smashed" "hit" control
yes 16 7 6
no 34 43 44
EVALUATION
METHOD: controlled lab experiment that fulfil the scientific criteria, however can cause issues with ecological validity
DATA: collected quantitative data which enables results to be easily summarised and compared
ETHICS: there was concealment however it was necessary to the experiment, the clips were not real and were not gruesome
VALIDITY: highly controlled and so high in design validity, however they knew they were part of a study and so may have tried to affect the outcome (e.g. might have lied because they thought they were supposed to have remembered glass)
ECOLOGICAL VALIDTY: as the study was carried out in lab conditions and the pps were told that they would have to recall what they saw, it lacks ecological validity
RELIABILITY: highly replicable due to controlled procedure and also supports the reliability of the theory that language can distort memory
SAMPLE: low generalisability as all of the pps were college students
ETHNOCENTRISM: one one hand, memory is a cognitive function and so it is a specific-specific behaviour however it may onluy reflect how university educated people's cognitive thinking works
SCIENCE: controlled lab experiment so highly scientific
USEFULNESS: showed that it is possible to distort eyewitness testimonies and so had considerable repercussions for the police
CONCLUSIONS
the questions asked subsequent to an event can cause a reconstruction of someone's memory