Sacchi Et al 2007

• 1. AIM

  If doctored images would affect participants and lead to false memories.

  If false accounts would influence behavioural intentions and attitudes towards an event
• sample: 

  187 participants (31 male and 156 female) who were undergraduates enrolled at the University of Padua or at the University of Udine, in Italy. Participants did not receive any compensation for involvement.

  mean age of 22.3 years
• Procedure

  Participants viewed one combination of the photographs for the beijing event and the rome event. 3 sets of MCQ's were used eg, attitude questions.

  Photographs and questions were presented in a printed questionnaire that participants completed in classroom settings
• Results


  34% of participants who saw an og photo of rome, claimsed there were injuries

  67% of participants who saw a doctored photograph of rome, claimed that injuries occurred
• Strength

  task involved using doctored photographs of 2 famous events:

  Tiananmen Square protest in Beijing

  Peaceful Protest near the Coliseum in Rome

  these are real events that happened in society thus increasing TASK VALIDITY
• Strength

  By randomising the combinations of the photographs order effects can be eliminated, such as fatigue which may influence ability to concentrate on the image.
• Weakness

  Used 31 males and 156 females.

  not representative of target pop as it is gender biased

  so pop validity is reduced
• Weakness

  participants completed their ratings of the photos thru a questionnaire, this could be biased as

  self report questionnaires are prone to social desirability bias (participants would not have given real answers)