Accuracy of eyewitness testimony: Anxiety Flashcards
Anxiety
An unpleasant emotional state that is often accompanied by increased heart rate and rapid breathing (physiological arousal)
What did Johnson and Scott study?
The weapon focus effect
What was the method of Johnson and Scott’s study on the weapon focus effect?
Participants were asked to sit in a waiting room where they could hear an argument on the opposite room. Next they saw a man run through the room carrying either a greasy pen or a knife covered in blood. Participants were later asked to identify the man from a set of photographs.
What was the results if Johnson and Scott’s study on the weapon focus effect?
The findings supported the idea of the weapon focus effect. Recall of the man was 49% accurate in the greasy pen condition, and 33% accurate in the knife condition.
What is the weapon focus effect?
It suggests that the presence of a weapon during a crime causes the attention of the witness to be drawn to the weapon and away from any other details such as the person’s face.
What did Christianson and Hubinette investigate?
How recall can be improved through increased arousal.
What was the method of Christianson and Hubinette’s investigation?
58 witnesses were asked questions on a real bank robbery in Sweden. The witnesses were either victims or bystanders. The interviews were conducted 4-15 months later.
What were the results of Christianson and Hubinette’s investigation?
The victims (who were most anxious) had the best recall. This suggest that anxiety does not reduce accuracy of recall.
What did Pickel propose?
That the reduced accuracy of identification due to the weapon focus effect could actually be due to surprise rather than anxiety
What was the method of Pickel’s investigation?
Participants were asked to watch a thief entering a hairdressing salon carrying scissors (high threat, low surprise), handgun (high threat, high surprise), wallet (low threat, low surprise) or a whole raw chicken (low threat, high surprise)
What were the results of Pickel’s investigation?
Identification was less accurate in the high surprise condition rather than the high threat condition. This supports the view that the weapon focus effect is related to surprise rather than anxiety.
What did Halford and Milne find?
That victims of violent crimes were more accurate in their recall than witnesses of non-violent crimes
How can individual differences effect the impact of anxiety?
Some people are more naturally anxious then others. It is believed that neurotic people become less accurate when stressed whereas the opposite is true for people who are naturally less anxious.
What did Fazey and Hardy suggest?
That the relationship between anxiety and performance is more complex than Yerkes-Dodson believes. They suggested that there is a catastrophic decline due to increased mental anxiety not just physiological anxiety.
