Experiment 2

• Aim

  to determine whether false information in advertising about childhood experiences at Disney could make participants believe those events actually happened to them (create a false autobiographical memory)
• Design: independent measures
• Samples: 167 Undergraduate psychology students from America (104 females/63 males).    
• Materials and Procedures:

  Given two different types of false information:

  -        Suggested they had shaken hands with Bugs Bunny at Disney World (this is impossible)

  -        Suggested that they had shaken hands with Ariel (character wasn’t introduced till later)
• Both the experimental group and the control were given the Disney advert (to see if mentioning Disney alone was enough to trigger autobiographical memories). Experimental group received the ads with the false information
• Results: The two autobiographical ads were more involving for participants than the informational ad.  All groups increased their confidence that they had shaken hands with a cartoon character but the increases were more pronounced in the two autobiographical conditions: 76% in the Ariel condition, 78% in the Bugs Bunny condition, and 62% in the non-autobiographical condition.
• There was an age bias

  both studies used undergraduate students from the USA. This may not represent how people of different ages respond to autobiographical advertising.
• It is not ethical to manipulate people’s memories


  many participants reported that they were more likely to visit Disney World and could have therefore been manipulated to spend a considerable amount of money on a holiday that they might not have otherwise. It also affected how the participants recalled their past.
• The study lacked ecological validity


  took place in laboratory conditions, it may not have reflected how people think about autobiographical advertisements in real life situations. Participants were directly instructed to imagine themselves experiencing the situation. In real life people do not generally get given direct instructions on how to perceive an advertisement and therefore mat be less likely to have their childhood memories effected.