Coursemate For Connecting Mind, Research, And Everyday Experience
Coursemate For Connecting Mind, Research, And Everyday Experience
4th Edition
ISBN: 9781285770055
Author: Bruce Goldstein
Publisher: Cengage Learning
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Chapter 8.3, Problem 1TY
Summary Introduction

Introduction

Misinformation effect occurs when the information presented after an incident has occurred influences and alters the person's recollection of the event.

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Answer and explanation

In an experiment by Elizabeth Loftus, participants were shown a series of slides showing a car accident. The participants were then asked a series of questions about the accident. One group was asked questions with word “hit,” while another group was asked questions with the word “smashed.” It was observed that the way the questions were posed and the type of words used in the questions influenced the memory of the subjects. Those who were presented with the word “smashed” reported that the speed of the car was very high as opposed to those who were presented with the word “hit.”

In another experiment by Lindsay, participants were divided into two groups, difficult conditions and easy conditions. The first phase of experiment was same for both the participants, wherein they saw a slideshow depicting a man stealing a computer, which was narrated word-to-word by a female. Shortly after, the difficult conditions group was presented with a misleading narrative of the story in the same female's voice. Two days later, the participants from this group were called again to recall the story. However, right before the test, they were informed that the narrative presented after the slideshow was false and that they should ignore it. The easy conditions group, after being shown the slideshow, was made to wait for 2 days. They were called again for the test, but, before the test, they were presented with a misleading narrative of the story that they had seen before in a male voice. They were also told before the test that the second narrative was false and that it should be ignored. The results indicated that the difficult conditions group confused the second narrative with the first one because it was presented immediately after the slides in the same female's voice. However, the easy conditions group was able to recall the first narrative without confusing it with the second misleading one because it was presented after a gap of 2 days and in a male's voice.

The main mechanism behind both the experiments is the power of suggestion by an external force which can alter one's memory of specific events.

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