Individual Article Review #1 Let's practice identifying the degree to which psychological research may focus on different goals. Research can vary along a continuum from basic research to applied research (see pages 11-13 of your text). Additionally, research may pursue different goals (see pages 8-11). Let's also try out identifying conceptual variables and variables that have been given an operational definition (see pages 63-67). For example, a conceptual variable might be "happiness," whereas one operational definition of happiness might be the sum score on a happiness self-report scale. 1. Where would you place the research of Loftus and Palmer (1974) on the continuum from basic to applied? Most importantly, justify your placement. o Very basic o Somewhat basic o Somewhat applied o Very applied Please type your responses in blue. In this experiment, I think it is somewhat applied research. Applied research is often related to everyday life issues. This study is based on the interaction between memory and language. It is also related to practical real-life situations, just like eyewitness testimony. Moreover, applied research is mainly focused on maximizing human happiness and psychological functioning. 2. Which of the four scientific goals does this research seek to address? Talk about each of the four goals and justify why the research does or does not seek to address the four scientific goals of research in psychology. Make sure to justify each of your assessments and take care that you are using the terminology carefully. Describing behavior: What is the relationship between language and memory? And how does the word hit and smash mean to them? As it is based on the individual who saw the car accident, they want to reconstruct the scene and how using different wordings affects the witness testimony. Predicting behavior: Does changing the words of the accident scene being described affect a person to recall their memory of the scene? With the use of "Smash" and "hit" they differentiate how they would react and recall the scene. Determining causes: The correlation between Language and Memory - They want to find out the relationship between language and memory with the use of different wordings to see how it would affect the witness to recall the exact scene.
Explaining behavior: To see whether using "Smash" or "hit" would affect the memory in recalling the accident. With the wording "Smash" it sounds a lot more aggressive than just a "hit", so the witness may think that the accident might be a lot more serious than they thought it was. 3. Point out one conceptual variable that the researcher manipulated as well as at least one way they created an operational definition for this variable. Conceptual variable: Witness Recall Accuracy Operational Definition: With the words "Smash" and "hit", how much will it affect the witness's accuracy of recalling the car accident scene.