Two lab experiments, both with independent measures
Loftus & Palmer Procedure (Exp. 1)
Participants shown seven film-clips of traffic accidents then asked to recount what they've just seen then made to answer questions about the clips
Loftus & Palmer Five Verbs
Contacted, hit, bumped, collided, smashed
Loftus & Palmer Results (Exp. 1)
Stronger verbs resulted in higher speed estimates
Loftus & Palmer Procedure (Exp. 2)
Participants watched a one minutes video with a car crash then were questioned using either "hit" or "smashed" then, a week later, were asked if they'd seen any broken glass
Loftus & Palmer Results (Exp. 2)
More participants had "seen" glass when the verb "smashed" was used
Loftus & Palmer Conclusions
False memories are constructed because the semantics become integrated with memory
Grant et al. Aim
Whether context cues help remember information and whether a matching environment helps recall information
Grant et al. Sample
39 students from Iowa aged 17-56 gathered by a snowball sample (8 researchers found 5 participants)
Participants were given an article to read and told they were going to be tested. Their reading times were recorded an they were given two minutes before being tested. They were given short answer then the multiple choice. They were debriefed after the tests on the nature of the experiment
Grant et al. Conditions
Silent-silentSilent-noisyNoisy-silentNoisy-noisy
Grant et al. Controls
Headphones were used for both conditions, same article read, 2 minutes between reading and testing
Grant et al. Results
Scores were better in the matched conditions with scores being slightly better in the S-S condition
Grant et al. Conclusions
Context cues are important when retrieving memory and silent study is better
Moray's Aim
Whether 'non-attended' messages can be remembered in a dichotic listening task
Moray's Sample
Male and female undergrads and researchers. 12 participants in experiment 2 and 2x14 participants in experiment 3
Moray's Method
3 lab experiments with the first one having a repeated measures design and the two others having an independent measures design
Moray's Exp. 1
35 simple words were listed in the unattended ear while the participant shadowed a piece of prose. Participants then had to select the words they heard from a list containing words from both texts and some extra, unheard words. Mean words recalled: Shadowed message- 4.9; Rejected message- 1.9; Similar words from either - 2.6
Moray's Exp. 2
Instructions were given in the unattended ear with half the participants' name being included in the instructions. 20/39 of participants heard their name in the unattended message
Moray's Exp. 3
Participants shadowed one of two messages. In some of the messages digits were either in both messages, or in one. Controls with no numbers were also inserted. One group was told they'd be asked questions about the content of the shadowed message at the end. The other group had to remember as many numbers as they could. There were no significant differences between the two groups.
Moray's Conclusions
No content from rejected messages is remembered; neutral material doesn't break through the attentional block; meaningful material does break through the block
Simons and Chabris Aim
To investigate what role attention plays in visual perception
Four 75 second long video tapes shown of a white and black team playing basketball. Observers told to watch either team and to either count the passes (easy task) or count the air passes and the bounce passes (hard task)
Simons and Chabris Results
46% of 192 failed to notice the unexpected event. The gorilla was noticed more when observers were watching the black team
Simons and Chabris Conclusions
Paying close attention to one aspect means we may not notice other, unexpected aspects (inattention blindness)
Milgram's Aim
To investigate people's tendency for destructive obedience
Milgram's Sample
Volunteer sample of 40 mean between the ages of 20 and 50
Milgram's Method
Non-naturalistic observation/lab experiment
Milgram's Procedure
The participants were "randomly allocated" to be teachers while a stooge was the learner. Participants were told to administer voltage between 15-450V whenever the learner got a question wrong. When participants showed reluctance the researchers gave verbal prompts.
Milgram's Verbal Prods
"The experiment requires you to continue" "You have no other choice, you must go on"
Milgram's Results
100% went to 300V and 65% went up to 450V. Participants displayed sign of stress such a nervous laughter
Milgram's Conclusions
People find obeying destructive orders stressful. People are more obedient than we expect