{"id":11724,"date":"2019-02-25T06:04:13","date_gmt":"2019-02-24T21:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/?p=11724"},"modified":"2019-02-26T04:05:04","modified_gmt":"2019-02-25T19:05:04","slug":"key-study-leading-questions-and-the-misinformation-effect-the-car-crash-study-loftus-and-palmer-1974","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2019\/02\/25\/key-study-leading-questions-and-the-misinformation-effect-the-car-crash-study-loftus-and-palmer-1974\/","title":{"rendered":"Key Study: Leading questions and the misinformation effect – ” the car crash study” (Loftus and Palmer, 1974)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Memory is a reconstructive process, which means memories are actively and consciously rebuilt when we are trying to remember certain things. Elizabeth Loftus, her colleagues and others studying this cognitive phenomenon have shown that during the reconstruction phase our memories can be distorted if we are given false information about the event – this is called the\u00a0misinformation effect.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Background Information<\/b><\/p>\n

Some of Elizabeth Loftus\u2019s first studies focused on how language can influence memories of particular events. Research prior to the following two 1974 experiments suggested that people are quite inaccurate when asked to report numerical details regarding events.\u00a0Also, as memory has been shown to be reconstructive in nature, Loftus and Palmer predicted that the wording of a question could influence recall. They define a leading question as \u201cone that, either by its form or content, suggests to the witness what answer is desired or leads him (sic) to the desired answer).\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

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Have you ever seen this in a film or on TV in a court-room drama? The lawyer asks the question and the opposing lawyer shouts, \u201cObjection! Leading the witness, your Honour\u201d. They are objecting to the use of a leading question – asking in a question that is guiding (or leading) the respondent towards a particular answer.<\/span><\/em><\/h6>\n<\/blockquote>\n

For example, I would be asking a leading question if I asked you, \u201chow much do you like Psychology?\u201d I\u2019m already implying in my question that you <\/span>do <\/span><\/i>in fact like Psychology, I simply want to know how much. You\u2019re lead to answer in a way that suggests you like this subject. What if you hate it, or find it immensely boring? It would be more difficult to respond this way to this particular question. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the following two experiments, Loftus and Palmer first studied the effects verbs in questions on speed estimates and also if these verbs could impact memory in other ways.<\/span><\/p>\n

The following information has been adapted from our textbook,\u00a0IB Psychology: A Student’s Guide.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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Key Study Experiment #1: 5 verbs in leading questions.<\/b><\/p>\n

In this first experiment, 45 college participants were divided into five groups of nine and watched seven short videos (5 – 30 seconds) taken from driver\u2019s education courses that involved a traffic accident of some kind. The participants were first asked an open-ended question: \u201cGive an account of the accident you have just seen\u201d, which was followed by a series of specific questions about the accident. There was one critical question that asked \u201cAbout how fast were the cars going when they \u2026 each other\u201d. The five groups were given five different verbs. I.e. one group was asked \u201chit\u201d, one was asked, smashed, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"2<\/span><\/p>\n

The results were as follows (mph):<\/span><\/p>\n