Psychology Assignment | Effect on Arab Adults

Misinformation Effect on Arab Adults Using the Internet
A Research Project submitted for the Masters of Science in
Psychology

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Abstract
The Misinformation Effect Theory states that memory can be altered
with post events, and that change can be permanent. There are
many studies that have been done to test this theory cross
culturally. The study, here, investigated the misinformation effect in
Arabsfrom different nationalities and of both genders by watching a
short video clip then listening to a post-event audio narration
describing the scene in the video clip. The 1,340 participants were
asked after watching the video and listening to the audio, four
questions about the scene, two of the questions correspondedto an
experimental group with misinformation and two other ones were
not. The independent variables were the group age and gender.
Although there are claims that Arabs have strong memory and are
taught techniques from a young age, the study showed that this
claim didn't make any significant difference when compared with
other nationalities. The study does show significant effect of the
misinformation with the participants tested. Out of the 683
participants that were infected with misinformation 218 were misled
in one question and 215 in the other question. Age didn't show any
significance, however, gender did, where females were more
effected with the misinformation than males by a slight difference of
3-5%. The overall percentage of misinformation effect was 10% on
those who were misinformed and infected. This is the only study
done on Arab nationals testing misinformation effect as of this date.
The study concludes that the Arab sample tested in this study were

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affected by the misinformation and replicates other previous studies
cross culturally.

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Contents
Declaration Form .........................................................................
2
Abstract .................................................................................... 3
Contents .................................................................................... 4
Acknowledgement ........................................................................
5
Chapter 1: Introduction ..................................................................
6
Hypothesis ................................................................................. 10
Chapter Two: Literature Review .......................................................
12
Chapter Three: Research Methodology
................................................. 25
Chapter Four: Findings, Analysis, and Evaluation
................................... 28
Chapter Five: Discussion and Conclusion.
.......................................... 26
Appendixes ............................................................................... 37
References ................................................................................ 49

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Acknowledgments
I would like to express gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Marietta Papadatou-
Pastou (University of Roehampton) for her help in bringing this study into
a more academic work. Her acknowledgment to the hours and thoughts
she put with supervising the work is appreciated and noted.
I would like to also express gratitude to Smarts Way Telegram
Channel (Smarts Way Holding Co.) and the teamthat have made
reaching this large number of Arab participants possible and
satisfactory. Without their help, it would have been much harder to
collect such a large number of participants.
This study was not possible without the help, teaching, and precise
educational system by the University of Roehampton. I would like to
expand this acknowledgment to the University, its staff, the writing
center, and supervising committees.

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Chapter One
Introduction
For ages people thought of memory as solid, or something you
record through your senses and then retrieve it from the brain
whenever needed. Old writings and text books explain memory as
being a "storehouse in which we store away our knowledge until we
wish to use it" (Brooks, 1882). Historically, and still mostly adopted,
memory
storageis divided into different trace systems: immediate,
short-term and long-term; and
permanentmemory was within these
systems (McGaugh, 1966).Even when
forgettingwas discussed it was
attributed to changes in what is called 'association' of the memory,
although it was believed with previous literature that the trace to
the memory might be lost, but the original memory remains in
storage (i.e. Frijda, 1972).Earlier studies as far as 1900 were
conducted to test human memories, especially those of the two
German scientists of the University of Göttingen, Georg Elias Müller
and Alfons Pilzecker, who concluded in their series of studies that
memory is fragile at the beginning of its formation, however, it
strengthens and can be consolidated as if it is stored in a cabinet
over time (Hall S. S., 2013).
Studies and discussions about memory can go back as long as
Plato and Aristotle(Murray, 1976). However, this belief that memory
is a 'solid storage' has been changing and a wide discussion in the
academic arena has formed a new paradigm that states that