accuracy of EWT- anxiety Flashcards
what did loftus and burns investgate
investigated the effect of stress when violence is present on recall of a witnessed crime
what did loftus and burns show their participants (2 conditions)
stimulated armed robbery when a boy was shot in the face whilst robbers made a getaway (high anxiety)
no shooting involved (lower anxiety)
what was the result
pp who had seen more violent version that caused them a higher level of anxiety were less accurate than pp who didnt witness the shooting
additional evidence
Peters- tested people visiting their local health clinic for a jab. met the nurse who gave them the jab (causing anxiety) and the researcher who didn’t give them the jab (no anxiety). recall was better for the researcher than for the nurse as the anxiety decreased recall
what is the weapon focus effect
when witnesses to an event have higher levels of arousal/anxiety then they a more likely to focus on central details of the event e.g a weapon in an attack rather than everything else that is going on
why is this problematic
eyewitnesses may have missed important details pf an event without realizing as they were preoccupied by one key feature of an event
who investigated this
Johnson and Scott
what was their aim
identify whether or not high levels of of anxiety lead to witnesses focusing on a certain aspects of an incident
what was the study (process)
they were taking part in a study for memory
condition 1- heard normal conversation and man emerged holding a pen
condition 2- heated conversation with crashing objects and man emerged with paperknife covered in blood
they were asked to identify who the man was who emerged from the room out of 50 photos
how many were successful in condition 1 (%)
49%
how many were successful in condition 2 (%)
33%
what do those percentages suggest (in the study)
weapon may have distracted them in condition 2 as they would have been distracted by the hostility of the situation therefore would have higher levels of anxiety leading to a lower accuracy
additional evidence to support johnson and scott
loftus et al 1987
monitored the movement of eye-witnesses
found the presence of a weapon caused attention to be drawn towards the weapon and away from other key details like the persons face
additional evidence that does not support johnson and scott
pickel 1998
argued that the impact of the weapon focus effect was actually due to the witness being surprised as apposed to anxious.
found recall was the poorest was in high surprise conditions supporting the view that the weapon focus effect is related more to surprisal rather than anxiety
negative effect on memory
can influence the reconstructive nature of memory, leading to people unknowingly filling in gaps in their recollection with information that is consistent with their expectations or the suggestions of others- this can result in the unintentional creation of false memories
positive effect of anxiety on the ewt
adaptive for humans to have increased memory performance in stressful situations so if we experience stressful conditions we remember key details of the event so we can remember how to respond if we ever find ourselves in a similar situation in the future
additional evidence to prove the positive effect of anxiety on ewt- who did this
yuille and cutshall
yuille and cutshall findings
13 witnesses to a real life shooting interviewed
despite high levels of anxiety that would inevitably have been caused in the event, their accuracy of ewt remained high even after 4 months and given misleading information they didn’t conform
who suggested the Yerkes-Dodson effect
yerkes and dodson
what does the Yerkes-Dodson effect suggest
our anxiety increases so does our accountability to recall events
however when anxiety is very low or alternatively very high our recall is generally poor
who proposed a weakness of the Yerkes- Dodson effect
Fazey and Hardy 1988
what did Fazey and Hardy suggest
only able to explain the impact on arousal physically- e.g rise in blood pressure on accuracy of recall.
they argued mental anxiety has a bigger impact on a persons ability to recall information.
model doesn’t account for this yet it has a more significant impact
evaluation- positives (2)
1) lab experiments are well controlled therefore easy to replicate increasing reliability
2) experimental validity- Loftus and Burns (stimulated armed robbery) were able to control exactly what happened and limit the impact of extraneous variables
evaluation- negatives (3)
1) ethical considerations- inducing high levels of anxiety in participants, as this could potentially cause psychological harm.
2) individual differences: people vary in their individual differences coping mechanisms, and stress responses can influence how anxiety affects eyewitness testimony. Research may not always account for these individual variations and reactions
3)ecological validity: studies conducted in laboratory settings may lack ecological validity, meaning the findings may not fully generalize to real-world situations. Eyewitness testimonies often occur in complex, emotionally charged, and unpredictable environments, making it difficult to replicate these conditions in a controlled research setting.
