Loftus and Palmer showed people a film of a car crash and then asked them to fill out questionnaires that included a question about how fast the cars were going at the time of the accident. The participants who reported the highest speeds had been asked to estimate how fast the cars were going when they __________ one another.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Loftus and Palmer's study showed that the use of different verbs to describe the same event can affect eyewitness testimony. In this case, the participants who received the question with the verb “smashed into” reported higher speeds than those who received the verbs “touched,” “bumped into,” or “brushed.” Therefore, the best choice is C, “smashed into.”

Loftus and Palmer Showed People a Film of a Car