If there’s just a hint of a doubt, the word “prove” should not be used. And one little doubt is all it takes for the word “prove” to become false and erroneous when explaining conclusions to research. This raises doubt.Īll these issues raise at least some doubt about this study’s ability to “prove” that human memory is unreliable and can be manipulated. They checked “yes” on the question sheet, but this doesn’t actually mean they remembered the broken glass? Maybe they were being lazy, didn’t really think carefully or perhaps they were demonstrating participant expectancy effects. We do not know for sure that they actually remembered seeing broken glass.This study also only looks at explicit memory and in a very particular situation – this study can’t “prove” anything about implicit memory.Could we really expect people’s memory to be unreliable in other situations? This raises doubt. The experiment was conducted in controlled circumstances and arguably does not reflect a real life situation. This study was conducted in 1974, in the United States on college-aged participants. We cannot know for sure that these results would apply today, on other age groups and/or in different cultures.This means that 68% of participants memory was not altered and may have been reliable. Only 32% of participants in the smashed condition say they saw broken glass in the video of the car crash.Here are some reasons why this study doesn’t “prove” anything: When you go and say “this study proves that…” it suggests that you have a limited understanding of psychological research, and the complexities of human behaviour.Įvery year I will have one student that says… “Loftus and Palmer’s research on leading questions proves that memory is unreliable and we can have false memories implanted in our minds.” To say that a study proves something is to reveal your lack of critical thinking, even in a short answer response. In fact, throughout this course you should be practicing your ability to find aspects of a study to raise doubts – this is at the heart of critical thinking. When you’ve used this in your writing it sounds like you’re saying, “this study shows beyond doubt that…”īut in psychology there’s rarely a conclusion in research that is completely without doubt. It means that something has been demonstrated beyond doubt. The word prove is definitive, it’s absolute. If you’re reading this it’s probably because your teacher has sent you here after you’ve gone and written something like, “this study proves that…” in your psychology writing. While you may be able to use the word “prove” in the natural sciences and other subjects, this post will help you to understand why as a psychologist you may never use this word again.
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