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Summary Loftus + Palmer (1974) - study on eyewitness testimony
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A summary of classic key study - Loftus Palmer (1974)
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Loftus and Palmer (1974): Study on Eyewitness TestimonyMemory
A key feature of memory is being able to recall information – known as retrieval.
Memory is used throughout our lives and is particularly important in some cases, for
example, witnessing a crime and having to recall the sequence of events to help the
police convict someone – this is known as eye witness testimony (EWT).
Brown (1986) stated “judges, defence attorneys and psychologists believe it to be
just about the least trustworthy kind of evidence of guilt, whereas jurors have always
found it more persuasive than any other sort of evidence.
Reconstructive memory – this can affect EWT as memory is reconstructed after the
event has occurred and includes information that we have received after the event
and information from schemas – therefore it is not what we actually remember but
an altered memory incorporating this extra information.
Stereotypes - a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular
type of person or thing.
Schemas - a pattern of thought or behaviour that organises categories of information
and the relationships among them.
Leading questions – a question that suggests what answer is desired or leads to the
desired answer.
Aim
To investigate how information supplied after an event, influences a witness’s
memory of that event.
Hypothesis
The participants who are asked the smashed question will give higher speed
estimated (MPH) than participants who are asked the hit, bumped, contacted,
collided question.
Method and Design
The research method used was a lab experiment.
IV – the verb that was used in the critical question. 5 verbs were used: smashed,
bumped, collided, hit, contacted.
DV – the speed estimate given in MPH.
The experimental design was independent measures. Participants only took part in
one condition which was based on the verb used. Participants were only asked the
critical question containing one of the 5 verbs.
Participants
The participants consisted of 45 students from an American university.
They were split into 5 groups, each contained 9 students.
Each group had a different verb used in their critical question.
Procedure
Participants were asked to watch 7 video clips of different car accidents sourced
from the Seattle Police Department. All clips lasted between 5-30 seconds. The clips
were shown to the groups in a counterbalanced order.
The videos were of staged crashed, because the clips were educational and there are
ethical issues with showing real crashes.
The actual speed that the cars were travelling in the clips was only known by the
experimenters.
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