Loftus And Palmer (1974) Procedures

Front 1

Procedures 1

Back 1

Experiment one, three key procedures:
(1) All the student participants were shown the same film of a car crash.
(2) They were all asked exactly the same questions apart from the question under investigation.
(3) They were asked to estimate the cars were travelling in miles per hour (m.p.h.).

Front 2

Procedures 2

Back 2

Experiment two, three key procedures:
(1) All student participants were shown the same film of a multiple car crash.
(2) They were then assigned to one of three groups; the first was asked a question with ‘smashed’ in it; the second group was asked the same question but asked a question with ‘hit’ in it; the third group was a control group and was asked nothing about the accident. A week later they were asked if they had seen any broken glass in the film (but there had been no broken glass in the film).

Front 3

Procedures 3

Back 3

By placing the critical question amongst a series of questions you are, in effect, ‘camouflaging’ it. If only asked one question participants might have realised what the researchers were really investigating.

Front 4

Procedures 4

Back 4

A control group was necessary to compare the performance of the two experimental conditions against.