Leading Words and Estimation

This study has examined that when people making a decision on speed estimation about a complex event such an accident how they are affected by leading words of other people. The research has aimed to find out how accurate people are in reporting numerical details such as how fast two trains were travelling. An eighteen seconds video clip which is comprised of train accident was showed to participants in this research. Participants questioned with leading questions which include “smash” and “hit” and “no leading”. There were two experimental and one control groups. The research was designed as a quasi experimental study. Participants were selected out of students of Psychology department in Istanbul Bilgi University. The result of this study indicated that participants gave higher speed estimation when they were exposed the question that includes “smash” rather than “hit” or “no leading”.