Cognitive - Main Study

Question 1

What study are we investigating and what was the aim of this research

Answer 1

We are investigating Loftus and Palmer (1974) This research this research is about the accuracy of EWT, and the extent to which leading questions, where the question suggests a certain responce can impact the persons recollection of events. This particular reaearch looked at the effect of leading questions on peoples perception of speed of cars during an accident.

Question 2

Describe the methodology of Loftus and Palmer (1974)

Answer 2

The study consists of TWO laboratory experiments.
It uses an independant groups design and the two experiments used a different set of participants -

Experiment 1 had 45 participants
Experiment 2 had 150 participants

Question 3

Describe the clips watched by the participants

Answer 3

Firstly the Participants were (unknowingly) split into 5 groups of 9
The participants were shown 7 film clips of different road accidents.
The length of these clips ranged from 5 - 30 seconds each
These clips originally came from a drivers saftey film.

Question 4

What happened after the clips were shown to the participants

Answer 4

After watching each clip, the participants were given a questionaire that varied depending on the group they were in, all the questionaires asked them to give an account of what happened in the clip, as well as some specific questions. Of these specific questions was one KEY question, this question was:

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

The five groups all had different words in the blank space

Question 5

What were the five different words used to describe the crash in the various questionaires?

Answer 5

About how fast were the cars going when they ____ into each other?

smashed
colided
bumped
hit
contacted

The participants gave their responces in MPH

Question 6

Describe the findings of the FIRST experement of Loftus and Palmer

Answer 6

Loftus and Palmer calculated the mean speed for each experemental group

they found that of the five, the verb smashed gave the highest estimate of 40.8mph while alternatively, they found the verb contacted gave the lowest mph estimate of 31.8mph.

Question 7

eWhat the aim of the second experiment of Loftus and Palmer?

Answer 7

The first experiment saw if leading questions bias the details of a response.

This experiment aimed to investigate whether leading questions just bias the response, or if they actually changes the memory that is stored.

Question 8

Describe the procedures for the first stage of the SECOND experiment

Answer 8

In stage 1 of the second experiment the 150 participants were split into groups of 3.

All groups were shown a film of multiple car crashes that all lasted less than 4 seconds.
They were then asked a set of questions including the critical question about speed.

Group 1 critical question: verb of hit
Group 2 critical question: verb of smashed
Group 3: no critical question

Question 9

Describe the procedures of second stage of the SECOND experiment

Answer 9

In stage 2 of the second experiment, one week after the first stage, the participants were asked to return to the lab and were asked further questions about the filmed accidents they watched.

The critical question this time was a yes or no question asking whether or not there was broken glass in the accident.

In the actual film there was no broken glass - however, the study aimed to see if whether the different verbs used in the critical questions in stage 1 may have influenced / changed their memory.

Question 10

Describe the findings of the SECOND experiment of Loftus and Palmer

Answer 10

In part 1 the results showed that just like experiment 1, participants gave higher speed estimates for the verb ‘smashed’ than ‘hit’

in part 2 it was found that participants in the ‘smashed’ condition were more than twice as likley to report seeing broken glass than those in the ‘hit’ or control (no question) conditon

Question 11

How many participants reported seeing broken glass in each of the three groups?

Answer 11

Smashed: 16
Hit: 7:
Control: 6

(to calculate how many said no do this number minus 50 for each)

Question 12

What can we conclude from each experiment

Answer 12

overall the findings demontrate that the form of condition can dramatically affect a witnesses answer to a particular question.

Experiment 1 has a response bias conclusion meaning the different speed estimates occur as the critical word influences or biases the response.

Experiment 2 suggests the memory itself has changed. This is because a week later they say if they recall broken glass or not. And those who wrongly recall seeing something they didnt would suggest if they asked the participant to fully describe everything they saw in the clip, there would be many pieces of incorrect information.

Question 13

non-descriptive strengths and weaknesses of Loftus and Palmer.

Answer 13

Methodology:
Strength: Lab experiment ensures control
Weakness: Generalisability (Schacter et al)

Procedures:
Strength: High control over extraneous Variables / researcher bias
Weakness: Lacks ecological Validity (foster et al)

Ethics:
Strength: BPS guidelines
Weakness: Valid consent / Deception

Social implications:
Strength: Application (cog interviews)
Strength: minimises wrongful imprisonment

Question 14

Give one strength of Loftus and Palmer in relation to the use of a contolled experiment (methodology)

Answer 14

One strength of Loftus and Palmer is the use of a controlled operationalised experiment as it helps to create a clear relationship between the verb used (IV) and the speed the participant thought the car was going (DV). This is done by deliberately manipulating the IV (verb) in the various groups.

This is further supported by the use of a laboratory experiment which helps to control potentially confounding variables so we know any change in the DV is due to the changing IV and not other factors.

Therefore, this increases the internal validity of the study as we know the results are because of the verb change (IV) and not any extraneous variables.

Question 15

Give one weakness of methodology of Loftus and Palmer in relation to the participants

Answer 15

A weakness of the procedure Loftus and Palmer is that the study lacks population validity, this is because all the participants were US college students, this is a weakness as their results may not be representative of a general population.

This is supported by Schacter et al who found that elderly people are more prone to the influence of misinformation than younger people.

Question 16

Give one strength of the procedure of Loftus and Palmer in relation to the control of extraneous variables

Answer 16

One strength of the procedures of Loftus and Palmer is that there was high control over extraneous variables. For example, in first experiment, the order of the seven clips were changed for the different groups of participants. So, some participants may have watched video 1 first, whereas others would have seen it last.
This is a control aspect of the study and is a strength as it should prevent any possible order effects having an impact on the results increasing the internal validity of the findings.

Question 17

Give one weakness of the procedure of Loftus and Palmer in relation to the use of Ecological Validity.

Answer 17

It could be argued that a weakness of the study is that it lacks ecological validity. This is because watching films of accidents is a lot different than witnessing a real accident as they would not be emotionally stimulated in the same way they would be witnessing a real accident. This means the findings may also be different - for instance some people may have a better or worse memory for witnessing something distressing.

This is supported by Foster et al where they found if participants thought they were witnessing a real-life robbery, their EWT’s were more accurate, this is a weakness of the study and suggests it lacks both external and internal validity.

However - this could be seen as a strength as witnessing real car accidents could breach ethical guidelines of distress and harm.

Question 18

Give a strength of the ethics of this research in relation to BPS guidelines

Answer 18

One strength of the ethics of Loftus and Palmer is that it aligns with the BPS guideline of no phycological harm or distress to participants, this is done as instead of the participants watching a real car accident, which many would find extremely distressing, the participants watched the car accidents on a video. This is a strength of the ethics of the study as participants will find this alternative far less distressing.

Question 19

Give a weakness of the ethics of this research in relation to valid consent

Answer 19

One weakness of the ethics of the research is the lack of valid consent and deception in the study. This is because Loftus and Palmer did not gain valid consent from the participants as they were not told the true aim of the study and were deceived of the true aims of the study.

However If the participants would have been aware of the deception and leading questions, they may have been more careful with their responses which would have led to their answers being biased and not representative of a real EWT

Question 20

Name one social implication of this research to do with application

Answer 20

One social implication of the findings of Loftus and Palmer is that The police are now more aware of the effect of the questions that they ask on responses of people.

For example, as the results showed the huge influence the wording of a question can have on someone’s response. This research has led to new developments in questioning techniques used by the police in the form of a cognitive interview, whereby the questions are specifically tailored to not point the interviewee, in any way or another aka preventing leading questions.

Question 21

Name one social implication of this research to do with wrongful imprisonment

Answer 21

Another benefit to society that comes from the research of Loftus and Palmer is knowing the effects of leading questions helps us to ensure we look at more evidence, increasing the likelihood of the correct offender being prosecuted. Which has several benefits.

For example, if an EWT is inaccurate as a result of leading question, it has several impacts on society.
For example, economically it costs the government 40,000 each year to keep someone in jail. If the wrong person is in jail due to a faulty EWT the government is wasting its recourses that could otherwise be allocated elsewhere.

Additionally, it benefits society for the right person to be sent to jail as if not (such as in the case of Ronald Cotton) the real criminal is still out in society to commit further offences against society.

Lastly, saving somebody from a false conviction has massive benefits towards that person, as well as their family’s mental health.