13 - ewt (anxiety) Flashcards
how does anxiety creating physiological arousal impact recall?
it prevents us paying attention to important cues so recall is worse
who did research on how the use of weapons can affect witnesses?
johnson and scott
what was johnson and scott’s two conditions
high anxiety and low anxiety
what was johnson and scott’s task?
led participants to believe they were taking part in a lab study experiment. in the waiting room they over heard an argument and then saw a man walking away. low anxiety, man walked away carrying a pen with grease on his hands. high anxiety, glass breaking and man walking away holding a paper knife.
scott and johnson found that what percent of participants could identify the man holding the pen?
49%
scott and johnson found that what percent of participants could identify the man holding the knife?
33%
what is tunnel theory (johnson and scott)
when the memory is focused on the weapon and builds anxiety
what type of effect does johnson and scott show anxiety to have on ewt?
negative
yuille and cutshall show anxiety to have what type of effect on ewt?
positive
anxiety of witnessing a crime can create what response?
fight or flight
fight or flight caused by anxiety from witnessing a crime improve what so we become more aware of cues within the situation?
alertness and memory
who conducted a study of a shooting in a gun shop in canada?
yuille and cutshall
what was the real life study yuille and cutshall studied?
shooting in a gun shop in canada, shop owner shot a thief dead
how many witnesses agreed to take part in yuille and cutshall’s study?
13
how long after the shooting in yuille and cutshall’s study were interviews held?
4-5 months after
what were the interviews in yuille and cutshall’s study compared to?
police interviews which happened straight after the shooting
witnesses in yuille and cutshall’s study were judged on their accounts by what?
their accuracy to recall details
witnesses in yuille and cutshall’s study had to indicate what on a scale?
how anxious they felt when the shooting happened
witnesses in yuille and cutshall’s study had to report if they had what since the shooting?
health problems such as sleeplessness
how accurate were the witnesses in their accounts after 5 months in yuille and cutshall’s study?
very accurate, very little change in their stories after the 5 months. however some details were less accurate such as height and weight
those who reported the highest levels of stress were what percent accurate in yuille and cutshall’s study?
88%
those who reported the lower levels of stress were what percent accurate in yuille and cutshall’s study?
75%
who made the law showing the relationship between emotional arousal and performance, looking like an inverted U?
yerkes and dodson
what is the yerkes-dodson law?
lower levels of anxiety result in lower levels of accuracy. there comes a point where you reach optimum levels of anxiety, after this your accuracy quickly declines
how is pickel’s hair salon study a weakness of johnson and scott’s study?
the study by johnson and scott may actually test reactions to surprise and shock rather than reactions to weapons. pickel did a study in a hair salon where scissors are a normal thing to see. he tested reactions to scissors, a hand gun, a wallet and a raw chicken. the ewt was more accurate for unusual items (hand gun and chicken), showing that the weapon effect is down to its unusualness rather than anxiety or threat
how is field experiments lacking control a weakness of anxiety and ewt?
researches usually interview real life eyewitnesses sometime after the event. all sorts of things will have happened since that the researchers have no control over eg. discussions with other people about the event, accounts in the media or the effects of being interviewed by the police. possible these extraneous variables may be responsible for the accuracy of recall
how is ethical issues a weakness of johnson and scott’s study?
creating anxiety in participants is very risky, unethical because it may subject people to psychological harm. this is why real life studies are more beneficial, no need to create the anxiety
