Carmichael (1932)

Carmichael (1932)

1. Aim

   • To see if words shown with pictures affect the away they are remembered

2. Variables

   • Independent Variable
     • The verbal labels given before the pictures
   • Dependent Variable
     • The extent to which the drawing looked like the label

3. Procedure

   • Independent groups design
   • 95 participants
     • 2 experimental groups
       • Group Two
         • Same pictures
           • Labels from list 2
       • Group One
         • Labels from list 1
         • Same pictures
     • 1 control group
     • Saw 12 pictures and were asked to draw what they had seen
   • Lab Experiment

4. Findings

   • Control group
     • 45% of drawings resemble the words in list 1 or list 2
   • Group 1
     • 73% of drawings resemble the label given
   • Group 2
     • 73% of drawings resemble the label given

5. Conclusion

   • Memory for pictures is reconstructed / rebuilt using schemas
     • Words shown with pictures do affect the way they are recalled

6. Strengths

   • High in reliability
     • Lab experiment
       • So it had a standardised procedure
         • Easy to repeat with the same resources and instructions
   • High in validity
     • The use of a control group, and 2 experimental groups
       • Researchers can be confident that the labels effected recall, not any extraneous variables

7. Weaknesses

   • Lacks ecological validity
     • Lab experiments so it is very artificial
   • Prentice (1954)
     • Carried out a similar study
     • Found evidence against the study
     • Suggests that another factor effects the DV