Thoughts on False Memories
Posted on June 12th, 2006 in Usability | 3 Comments »
Elizabeth F. Loftus and many other researchers have explained false memories, which are memories for events that didn’t happen. False memories are also classified as distortions of factual events.
There’s some really cool research that roughly goes like this. Different groups of people are shown the exact same picture of an automobile accident. After they are shown the picture they are asked a question. For the sake of simplicity, imagine there are three groups. Each person in each group is asked to estimate the speed of a vehicle in the accident. These are their respective questions:
Group 1: How fast was the car going when it bumped the other car?
Group 2: How fast was the car going when it hit the other car?
Group 3: How fast was the car going when it smashed the other car?
Although everyone saw the exact same picture, there were statistically significant differences between the groups. Specifically, Group 1 estimated a lower mean speed than Group 2, and Group 2 estimated a lower mean speed than Group 3.
What does this mean? The language we use really matters. It shapes outcomes. Words change our perceptions. What we hear and what we say can bend reality. This is not trivial.
In the experiement described above the language changed, nothing else. The context was exactly the same until just a single word changed everything. One word changed the world.
3 Responses
[...] Thoughts on False Memories (WebWord) What does this mean? The language we use really matters. It shapes outcomes. Words change our perceptions. What we hear and what we say can bend reality. This is not trivial. (tags: language memory) [...]
Intriguing consideration. Not exactly surprising; but applying the ability of language to create a specific reaction in site visitors is a very powerful marketing concept – as reflected in the subtexts of your Marriott Vacation Club post, I’d say.
Although that post is perhaps more about emotional description, it does also create a false emotional reaction, since it is unlikely that the target audience has specifically had thoughts about these emotional reactions – instead, they are created artificially by the force of the advertising slogan.
Hey, two comments in one! :)
I was recently reading about a similiar subject (repressed memories), when I came across this page that has all kinds of articles on repressed, false, and recovered memories.
http://www.rickross.com/groups/fsm.html