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Project Summary
| Difficulty | 7 |
| Time required | Long (a couple of weeks) |
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| * Note: This is an abbreviated project idea, without notes to start your background research or a procedure for how to do the experiment. You can identify abbreviated project ideas by the asterisk at the end of the title. If you want a project idea with full instructions, please pick one without an asterisk. |
Abstract
Can an authority figure make someone question their own memory? How reliable is eyewitness information? This project looks into these questions. You'll need a poster-sized image that includes many faces, and a volunteers to act as "eyewitnesses." The volunteers are tested individually. The instructions are that they have one minute to examine the poster, and then a fixed amount of time (e.g., 5 minutes) to write down brief, accurate descriptions of all the faces they can remember. They'll get points for each correct description. They will also be tested one day later, without seeing the poster again, to see how well they can retain the information after a time lapse. At the end of the first test session, the tester runs down their list, checking off correct descriptions, with the volunteer present. At some point during this process, the tester remarks, "Oh, you missed the . . ." and describes a face not in the poster. How many of the volunteers will include the non-existent face when they write their descriptions on the second day? (Gale, 2002)Bibliography
Gale, S., 2002. "The Power of Suggestion," California State Science Fair Project Abstract [accessed February 1, 2006] http://www.usc.edu/CSSF/History/2002/Projects/J1706.pdf.Variations
- For more science project ideas in this area of science, see Sociology Project Ideas.
Last edit date: 2007-03-07 20:01:18
Career Focus
If you like this project, you might want to think about career opportunities in
Sociology.
Any time there is more than one person in a room, there is potential for a social interaction to occur or for a group to form. Sociologists study these interactions—how and why groups and societies form, and how outside events like health issues, technology, and crime affect both the societies and the individuals. If you already like to think about how people interact as individuals and in groups, then you're thinking like a sociologist! Learn more about this career: Sociologist.
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