Psychology IA - Eyewitness testimony

ABSTRACT:

Aim of this experiment was to investigate the effect of leading questions on the memory, simply

put – how wording of a question can trigger cognitive processes which will modify one’s memory

information. This experiment was a replication of the study conducted by Loftus and Palmer

(1974). In the experiment the independent variable (IV) was the wording of the questions:

“Please estimate the speed of the cars when they contacted/crashed into each other?” and “Was

there any broken glass when cars or contacted/crashed into each other?” The dependent

variable (DV) was the estimation of speed upon memory retrieval (information they obtained

watching the video of a car crash). Procedure was very simple – after watching the information,

there was some distraction period and then they were asked questions which they answered. One

week after, they were asked another question. The results were as expected. They showed that

wording of a question can affect retrieved memory.

Therefore, it can be concluded that this study was in line with the one conducted by Loftus and

Palmer (1974) from which can be derived that words led to specific answer. Hence, answer was

result of reconstructive kind of memory, wording of the question and existing schemas of

participants.

NOTE TO SELF:

This is the very first IA in psychology I've ever written, so I'd strongly advise for you to take it as something your IA should NOT look like =))