Theories of forgetting/ Factors affecting the accuracy of EWT Group A and B (Wednesday) Friday: essay feedback

Homework (half term) Downloaded passport to success? Used the checklist to complete flashcards? Work set on Monday Mini mock=after half term

Approaches 1) Who wrote the origin of species? 2) When was it published? 3) Who opened the first Psychology laboratory in Leipzig? 4) When? 5) Name a psychologist who pioneered the psychodynamic approach? 6) Name the two types of conditioning in behaviourism 7) Name the two types of reinforcement in behaviourism 8) What is it called when a behaviour stops because of an unpleasant consequence? 9) Which approach considered the hierarchy of needs to explain motivation in humans 10) Which approach considers faulty thinking to be the root cause of psychological disorders 11) Which approach considers genetic influences of behaviour?

Memory What is the capacity of STM? What is the capacity of LTM? What is the duration of Sensory Register? How many stores are there in the MSM of memory? What has to happen for STM to be passed into LTM? Name three types of Long-term memory Which of the above is a memory for skills? Which of the above is a memory for events that occur? How many components in WMM? Which component is in charge of the other slave systems?

Approaches – Answers 1) Who wrote the origin of species? Charles Darwin 2) When was it published? 1859 3) Who opened the first Psychology laboratory in Leipzig? Wilhelm Wundt 4) When? 1879 5) Name a psychologist who pioneered the psychodynamic approach? Freud 6) Name the two types of conditioning in behaviourism Classical, operant 7) Name the two types of reinforcement in behaviourism positive, negative 8) What is it called when a behaviour stops because of an unpleasant consequence? punishment 9) Which approach considered the hierarchy of needs to explain motivation in humans humanism 10) Which approach considers faulty thinking to be the root cause of psychological disorders Cognitive 11) Which approach considers genetic influences of behaviour? Biological Score out of 13

Memory What is the capacity of STM? 7 + or – 2 What is the capacity of LTM Unlimited 4) What is the duration of Sensory Register? ½ - 3 secs 5) How many stores are there in the MSM of memory? 3 6) What has to happen for STM to be passed into LTM Maintenance Rehearsal 7) Name three types of Long-term memory episodic, semantic, procedural 8) Which of the above is a memory for skills? procedural 9) Which of the above is a memory for events that occur? episodic 10) How many components in WMM? 4 11) Which component is in charge of the other slave systems? The central executive Score out of 12

Theories of forgetting interference Starter activity Theories of forgetting interference

Put two columns on scrap paper Proactive Interference Retroactive Interference

Put each piece of text under the correct column – use a logical order These findings show retroactive interference Ex: automatically using old PIN when trying to input new PIN in cash machine Schmidt et al (2000) Old information interferes with new information There was a positive association between how many times respondents had moved out of the area, and forgetting street names on a map Ex. You can’t log onto facebook because you have recently changed to a new password for gmail, and this is interfering with older and different password for facebook New information interferes with old information More errors made as participants were exposed to an increased number of lists These findings show proactive interference

Answers Proactive Interference Retroactive Interference Old information interferes with new information Ex: automatically using old PIN when trying to input new PIN in cash machine New information interferes with old information Ex. You can’t log onto facebook because you have recently changed to a new password for gmail, and this is interfering with older and different password for facebook Schmidt et al (2000) More errors made as participants were exposed to an increased number of lists There was a positive association between how many times respondents had moved out of the area, and forgetting street names on a map These findings show proactive interference These findings show retroactive interference

Why do people forget? Retrieval cues Fill in the blank spaces One reason that people forget information is because there are insufficient _____ during recall. When information is placed in memory, their associated cues are stored at the _____. If these cues are not _____at the time of recall, then there is an appearance that the information has been _____. This theory suggests that the information is still available for recall, but it cannot be accessed until the correct cues are in place.

Why do people forget? Retrieval cues Fill in the blank spaces One reason that people forget information is because there are insufficient cues during recall. When information is placed in memory, their associated cues are stored at the same time. If these cues are not available at the time of recall, then there is an appearance that the information has been forgotten. This theory suggests that the information is still available for recall, but it cannot be accessed until the correct cues are in place.

_____ (1983) referred to what he called the _________(ESP). This states that a cue is going to help us remember information, it has to be ______during encoding (when we learn the information) and at retrieval (recall). If the cues at encoding and retrieval are ______then some forgetting will occur. For example, if you revise at college, you are more likely to retrieve the information than you are if you revise at home, as the college will act as a ______ for retrieval because the surroundings were there during encoding.

Tulving (1983) referred to what he called the Encoding Specificity Principle (ESP). This states that a cue is going to help us remember information, it has to be present during encoding (when we learn the information) and at retrieval (recall). If the cues at encoding and retrieval are different then some forgetting will occur. For example, if you revise at college, you are more likely to retrieve the information than you are if you revise at home, as the college will act as a cue for retrieval because the surroundings were there during encoding.

Cue-dependent forgetting can occur due to a lack of the same external or internal cues during recall. ______dependent forgetting refers to external cues that are different when encoding information and when retrieving it. ______-dependent forgetting refers to internal cues (states of awareness) that are different during encoding information and retrieving it. An example is encoding information while under the influence of ______, only to forget it the next day.

Cue-dependent forgetting can occur due to a lack of the same external or internal cues during recall. Context dependent forgetting refers to external cues that are different when encoding information and when retrieving it. State-dependent forgetting refers to internal cues (states of awareness) that are different during encoding information and retrieving it. An example is encoding information while under the influence of alcohol, only to forget it the next day.

Factors affecting the accuracy of EWT

Activity A – how good is your memory? - Answers Get and a 10 pence piece and check. How close were you? Did you get the right size (diameter = 26.5 mm)? Was Queen Elizabeth II facing the right way (from left to right) ? Elizabeth Fry (prison reformer) Amber Rudd Ask your teacher (but will he/she remember?)

What was your score? Did anyone get all four questions correct, or nearly correct? These questions have answers that you should all know, as you have seen or heard the answers, sometimes many, many times (how often have you held a 10p or a £5 note?) So what does this tell us about our LTMs? Why should this concern us when it comes to eye-witness testimony?

A study into EWT You need to be organised into four groups, we must allocate you to these groups randomly. How should we do this? Watch the clip then answer the questions given to you by the teacher

Results from your study Results: Lets see if we have different average estimates for question number 4 Is there a difference between the groups? Why do you think there was (or wasn’t?) Group A Group B Group C Group D total mean

Activity B (i) Fill in the sheet with the results from Loftus and Palmer (1974) Do our findings match what Loftus and Palmer found? You weren’t naïve participants, why might this be a confounding variable? (a confounding variable is an extraneous variable that has caused changes in the DV, eliminating internal validity from the study)

Activity B (i) Fill in the sheet with the results from Loftus and Palmer (1974) Do our findings match what Loftus and Palmer found? You weren’t naïve participants, why might this be a confounding variable? (a confounding variable is an extraneous variable that has caused changes in the DV, eliminating internal validity from the study)

Activity B (ii) – suggested answers 1) That memories can change after the event if people are exposed to misleading questions, we are easily suggestible if the changes are subtle (ex: one word). 2) That once changed, these tend to be permanent 3) Such a biased sample would mean we cannot generalise to other populations. Students are especially biased as they tend to be middle class, white, young, and in this case, from the United States. 4) There is concern that watching a video and answering questions is nothing like witnessing a real event, which increases anxiety and psychological arousal. This criticism is supported by the findings that investigations into the witnesses of real crimes find that memories are robust and tend not to be altered as easily as Loftus found in the laboratory. 5) If findings are not reliable then we are uncomfortable in claiming that the theory is accurate under all conditions. In this case, we can only state that evidence shows that testimonies can be corrupted in certain conditions, for example, when there are subtle changes. We certainly cannot conclude that all EWT would be changed due to any type of misinformation.

Activity C It can be difficult not to lead the witnesses when trying to get accurate information about a crime Attempt to change these questions into questions that would not lead the witnesses into giving an incorrect answer

Activity D Read the text and answer the questions Suggested answers: Why might we argue that this has a greater level of ecological validity than the original study of the car crash? Because the researcher is using their memories of real events which happened to them, this means that generalisations can be made beyond what might be recorded in a laboratory setting What does this study tell us about when false memories occur? During when the event occurs or during the exposure to misleading information? It suggests that memories can be distorted during exposure to the misleading information, and not when the memories are first formed. In other words, we change existing memories Why might advertisers be interest in this type of research? Because if advertisers can implant false memories, they can make people feel positive about their product, even if there is a previous negative reputation (Primark, Lidl, Virgin trains etc.)

Activity E Foster et al. (1994) showed that EWT was more accurate for real life crimes as opposed to simulations… So it is likely that in court for real crimes, eye-witness testimonies are more reliable than Loftus states, even with the presence of misleading information. This suggests that they should be used as evidence, as long as other evidence supports the account as a safeguard. Subtle and plausible misleading information is much more likely to alter the accuracy of an EWT compared with obviously misleading information… It is important to be extra careful during EW interviews not to use subtle misleading information, even at an unconscious level. Therefore it is vital that police officers should be trained well in interview techniques (see cognitive interview)

Activity E Some critics are concerned with the ethical implications of research into misleading information, such as deception, informed consent, and psychological harm… The researchers must use ethical committees and complete a cost benefit analysis before the research, if the findings mean that fewer innocent people are sent to prison, and more guilty people are, the benefits may be considered to outweigh the costs. However, this would need to be checked by gaining presumptive, prior general or/and retrospective consent

Activity E Some critics are concerned with psychological research into misleading information as this may be exploited by advertisers who manipulate people’s memories to sell their products. In the early 2000s, Virgin trains had a poor reputation for unreliability and were viewed negatively by the public. With a basis in psychological research, a new advertising campaign called “falling in love again” linked the positive image of ‘the golden age of train travel’ with Virgin trains. This created a false truth in people’s memories which removed the negative view of the company. Sales rose 20% during the advertising campaign (Goode, 2007)… Some people may see this as a benefit of the research as it could work to stimulate the finances of companies, safeguarding jobs, however, others may think that psychological research should not be used in a way that may exploit people, which some believe advertisers do.

Activity F - Exam question A witness was being questioned about a car crash she had seen, the officer asked to estimate the speed of the car before impact. She gave an estimate of about 25-30 mph. Another witness was asked ‘how fast was the car going when it smashed into the wall?’. This witness gave an estimate of about 40 – 45 mph. Use psychological research to illustrate why the second witness gave a higher estimate (3 marks)

A poor answer Loftus and Baddeley (1990) found that they will conform to estimates because of the words used by policemen. If the policemen asked them if they were going fast, people would say yes, but would say no if they were asked if they were going slow. This shows that there is a defect in peoples memory when they are misslead by policemen and the policemen shouldn’t do it. Find five criticisms of this answer. Possible answers: no link to the text in the question, very poor reporting of research, wrong names and dates used; incorrect information about Loftus and Palmer’s (1974) findings; sexist language of ‘policemen’, poor construct of conclusion, unclear who ‘they’ and ‘it’ are; Misspelling of misled What would you give out of 3? This answer would get zero marks

Activity F - Exam answer The second witness had been influenced by misinformation by exposure to a leading question (1 mark) Loftus and Palmer (1974) found that participants gave a higher estimate of speed when watching a film of a car crash when they were asked, how fast were the cars going when they smashed each other (40.8mph) compared with when smashed was replaced with contacted (31.8 mph) (2 marks). In the case in the scenario, the word impact suggests a lower speed than the word smashed, and this explains why the two estimates are significantly different, mirroring Loftus and Palmer’s findings (3 marks)