In a Famous Experiment on the Unreliability of Eyewitness Testimony

Multiple Choice

In a famous experiment on the unreliability of eyewitness testimony, participants first watched a video of a car wreck and were then asked either, "How fast was the car going when it hit the other car?" or "How fast was the car going when it smashed into the other car?" The hypothesis was that the word "smashed" would induce higher estimates of speed than the word "hit." What is the null hypothesis?

A) The "hit" group will estimate a lower speed than the "smashed" group.
B) Only the "smashed" group will estimate a high speed.
C) Both groups will give similar estimates of speed.
D) Neither group will estimate the speed.