Factors affecting EWT - the role of misleading information

Factors Affecting EWT - The role of misleading information

Study: Loftus and Palmer

Aim:

• to investigate the effect of leading questions in distorting the accuracy of EWT

Procedure:

• carried out a labatory investigation
• 45 American students were shown 7 films of different car accidents
• given a questionnaire asking them to describe the accident, a series of specific questions including one critical question
• 'About how fast were the cars going when they ____ eachother?'
• The participants were divided into 5 groups and each group was asked the critical question with one of the five following verbs:
  Hit
  Smashed
  Collided
  Bumped
  Contacted
• IV - Wording of the Question
• DV - Speed reported by the participants

Findings:

• Those that heard 'smashed' reported the average speed of 40.8
• Those who heard 'contacted' reported the average speed of 31.8
• …