ACCURACY OF EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY- ANXIETY

Question 1

burger on stress (accuracy of eye witness testimony ANXIETY)

Answer 1

B: Stress (physiological arousal) can impair performance on complex cognitive tasks, affecting memory recall.
U: Anxiety can lead to the weapon focus effect, reducing the accuracy of face identification.
R: Supported by Johnson and Scott’s study, where participants focused on a weapon, resulting in lower accuracy in identifying the face.
G: Strength: Provides evidence that high stress negatively impacts eyewitness memory.
E: Important for understanding how anxiety affects the reliability of eyewitness testimonies in high-stress situations.
R: Weakness: Pickel argues that the weapon focus effect may be due to surprise rather than anxiety itself.

Question 2

burger on evolutionary argument (accuracy of eye witness testimony ANXIETY)

Answer 2

B: The evolutionary argument suggests it is adaptive to remember stress-inducing events for survival.
U: High-stress situations may enhance memory for crucial details, benefiting survival.
R: Supported by Christianson and Hubinette’s findings that high-anxiety bank tellers recalled events more accurately.
G: Strength: Highlights the potential adaptive nature of memory in threatening situations.
E: Important for understanding how evolution shapes human memory and its implications for eyewitness accuracy.
R: Weakness: Deffenbacher et al. suggest that the Yerkes-Dodson effect indicates decreased accuracy at very high levels of anxiety.