The effect of question type on resistance to misinformation about present and absent details

Brubacher, Sonja P.; Sharman, Stefanie J.; Scoboria, Alan; Powell, Martine B.

doi:10.1002/acp.3742

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 29 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In this domain, too, Alan and coworkers made many contributions. For example, the current collection includes a study by Brubacher, Sharman, Scoboria, and Powell (2020) comparing effects of different forms of misleading questions on subsequent memory reports for witnessed and nonwitnessed details. Alan and his crew also did important work aimed at unpacking the ambiguity of "don't know" responses.…”

Section: Coming Up Emptymentioning

confidence: 99%

Commentary for special issue of Applied Cognitive Psychology in honor of Alan Scoboria

Lindsay

2020

Applied Cognitive Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Section: Coming Up Emptymentioning

confidence: 99%

Commentary for special issue of Applied Cognitive Psychology in honor of Alan Scoboria

Lindsay

2020

Applied Cognitive Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Open-ended questions, in which participants are invited to actively recall details of the event (e.g., “describe what the thief was wearing”), tend to result in fewer reports of misinformation than closed questions in which participants are encouraged to choose from a limited number of options (e.g., “was the thief’s jacket black or brown?”). It has been suggested that this is because open questions are more likely to elicit “don’t know” responses (Brubacher et al, 2020; Sharman & Powell, 2012; Waterman et al, 2001). We therefore counterbalanced the provision of closed and open questions across experimental conditions.…”

Section: Misinformation Delivery Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The medium and the message: Comparing the effectiveness of six methods of misinformation delivery in an eyewitness memory paradigm.

Greene¹,

Bradshaw²,

Huston³

et al. 2022

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Studies of eyewitness memory commonly employ variations on a standard misinformation paradigm. Participants are (a) exposed to an event (e.g., a simulated crime), (b) misled about certain details of the event and (c) questioned about their memory of the original event. Misinformation may be provided in the second step via a range of methods. Here, we directly compared the effectiveness of six misinformation delivery methods-leading questions, elaborate leading questions, doctored photographs, simple narratives, scrambled narratives, and missing word narratives. We presented 1182 participants with a video of a simulated robbery and randomly assigned them to receive misinformation about two out of four critical details via one of these methods. In line with the levels of processing account of memory, we report that methods that encourage deeper processing of misinformation result in more memory distortions. Contrary to previous reports, doctored photographs were not a successful method of implanting misinformation. The six delivery methods resulted in minimal differences in confidence and metamemory estimates, but participants were more likely to notice the presence of misinformation in the simple narrative condition. We conclude with suggestions for the selection of an appropriate method of misinformation delivery in future studies. Public Significance StatementDecades of research have shown that providing an eyewitness with inaccurate information about a crime that they witnessed can distort their memory and future testimony. This study compares the effect of six different methods of delivering this misinformation to an eyewitness. The results of this study will benefit researchers in this field and provide important evidence about how exposure to different kinds of information after witnessing a crime can influence an eyewitness in the real world.

show abstract

“…Cognitively complex questions may work well with some clients and less well with others, but we know very little about this issue. As Brubacher et al (2020) suggested, answering open questions involves a deeper processing and memory search, which may relate to how “helpful” clients find open and closed questions. In summary, we need more research on questions to help us more effectively personalize therapy for each client (Coyne et al, 2022; Norcross & Cooper, 2021; Norcross & Wampold, 2018).…”

Section: Limitations Of the Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

The use of questions in psychotherapy: A review of research on immediate outcomes.

Williams¹

2023

Psychotherapy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article defines and illustrates therapist questions in individual psychotherapy and then reviews the naturalistic, empirical research on their effectiveness. The research on immediate impacts of questions in psychotherapy has been mixed. The available research indicates that positive impacts, particularly of open questions, include increased client emotional expressiveness and affective exploration. However, negative impacts have also been found, suggesting that questions may be related to negative client perspectives of the therapist's empathy and helpfulness and session smoothness. The article focuses on definitions and clinical examples as well as research findings and limitations. The article concludes with training implications and therapeutic practice recommendations based on the empirical research. Clinical Impact StatementQuestion: Arguably, psychotherapists often rely on the use of questions in psychotherapy (such as to better understand their clients' perspectives), but it is unclear how effective questions really are. Findings: This article presents research that examines the immediate impact of asking questions in individual psychotherapy. Meaning: The research is mixed, suggesting that there are both positive impacts (such as client's increased exploration and expressiveness) and negative impacts (such as client concerns about therapists' empathy and their experience of the session). Next Steps: More targeted research is needed to help better guide the effective use of questions in psychotherapy.

show abstract

The effect of question type on resistance to misinformation about present and absent details

Cited by 7 publications

References 29 publications

Commentary for special issue of Applied Cognitive Psychology in honor of Alan Scoboria

Commentary for special issue of Applied Cognitive Psychology in honor of Alan Scoboria

The medium and the message: Comparing the effectiveness of six methods of misinformation delivery in an eyewitness memory paradigm.

The use of questions in psychotherapy: A review of research on immediate outcomes.

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About