What happens after debriefing? The effectiveness and benefits of postexperimental debriefing

Memory & Cognition, Vol. 50, no. 4, 2021

UC Irvine School of Law Research Paper No. 2022-27

Posted: 8 Sep 2022

See all articles by Rachel Leigh Greenspan

Rachel Leigh Greenspan

University of Mississippi - Criminal Justice and Legal Studies

Elizabeth F. Loftus

University of California, Irvine - Department of Psychological Science; University of California, Irvine School of Law

Date Written: September 7, 2022

Abstract

After participating in an experiment, people are routinely debriefed. How effective is debriefing when the experiments involve deception, as occurs in studies of misinformation and memory? We conducted two studies addressing this question. In Study 1, participants (N = 373) watched a video, were exposed to misinformation or not, and completed a memory test. Participants were either debriefed or not and then were interviewed approximately one week later. Results revealed that, after debriefing, some participants continued to endorse misinformation. Notably, however, debriefing had positive effects; participants exposed to misinformation reported learning significantly more from their study participation than control participants. In Study 2 (N = 439), we developed and tested a novel, enhanced debriefing. The enhanced debriefing included more information about the presence of misinformation in the study and how memory errors occur. This enhanced debriefing outperformed typical debriefing. Specifically, when the enhanced debriefing explicitly named and described the misinformation, the misinformation effect postdebriefing was eliminated. Enhanced debriefing also resulted in a more positive participant experience than typical debriefing. These results have implications for the design and use of debriefing in deception studies.

Keywords: Misinformation,Debriefing,Deception,Misinformation effect

Suggested Citation

Greenspan, Rachel Leigh and Loftus, Elizabeth F., What happens after debriefing? The effectiveness and benefits of postexperimental debriefing (September 7, 2022). Memory & Cognition, Vol. 50, no. 4, 2021, UC Irvine School of Law Research Paper No. 2022-27, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4212785

Rachel Leigh Greenspan (Contact Author)

University of Mississippi - Criminal Justice and Legal Studies ( email )

United States

Elizabeth F. Loftus

University of California, Irvine - Department of Psychological Science ( email )

4201 Social & Behavioral Sciences Gateway
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA 92697-7085
United States

University of California, Irvine School of Law

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Ste. 1000
Irvine, CA 92697-1000
United States

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