Debates

• The findings of this study don't tell us anything about the nature, nurture debate. it doesn't contribute to the debate as the findings don't concentrate on whether nature or nurture has anything to do with their mind.
• We believe that the study helps psychology become a science. This is due to the experiment being done in a lab and that they kept control over the variables.

Social and moral issues

• The findings from the study don't have a negative effect on people. As what the findings of the study shows is that eyewitness accounts alone can not be used to send someone to prison.
• The way the research was done did have implications for some of the participants. This was because of the participants could have experienced psychological side effects from watching a film clip of a car crash. The side effects of the research could have also caused the participants not to come forward to be an eyewitness again.

All you need to know about Loftus and Palmer

METHODS

• The method that they used to gather data i believe was a reliable way of gathering the data.They used an interview method to collect the data. However false answers could have been given by the participants if they wanted to look good to the researcher.
• The way they tested the research question was valid, as they did try to make the situation as real as possible for the participants. So their answers would be fair.
• On the whole it was an ethical study, but some parts of it may have harmed the participants which would have made it unethical. For example asking a participant to watch a clip of a car crash could bring back bad memories for they or could even make them develop a fear of cars due to seeing a crash happen.
• The data that was collected by Loftus and Palmer was qualitative as long answers were given not numbers. The benefits of this was that the answers that were given could be expanded to show how the participant got to that answer. Drawbacks of this are that the researcher has a lot of information to taken in that has been given by the participant. When the researcher writes his notes up some of the things the participant said could be interpreted in different ways.

Approaches and Contributions

• This study fits in the cognitive approach as this approach is all about looking at how the mind works. It fits in this approach as the study is looking at how effective and how useful eyewitness testimony is.
• The study contributes to this approach as it looks at how much the mind can remember and how accurate recall can be. It refutes the theory that eyewitness testimony can convict a criminal. This is because the findings that Loftus and Palmer found were that witness recall is unreliable due to so many different environmental influences.
• The study does not have a negative impact on psychology. It only has a negative impact on the theory which it refutes, which is eyewitness testimony. The study would only be unethical if the participants that took part had physical or psychological issues after they saw that film clip of the car crash.
• The study does bring benefits to psychology and benefits to the whole criminal justice system. The study has helped the police force in catching the real criminals instead of convicting the wrong people.