Anxiety Flashcards
What is meant by anxiety
Anxiety is strong emotional and physical state that affects EWT
How does this affect the accuracy of eye witness testimony
Extreme anxiety has been found to negatively affect EWT as witnesses. Only focus on certain aspects of the event so their recall is limited
AO3- Research to support
Research to support the negative of anxiety on the accuracy of EWT was conducted by valentine and mesout (2009) the researchers used an objective measure to divide participants into high and low anxiety groups participants took part in the London dungeon Labrinth and were then asked to immediately recall physical details of the actor from the event it was found that high anxiety lowered the accuracy of EWT significantly which therefore suggests that high levels of anxiety does have a negative effect on immediate eyewitness recall of a stressful event
AO3
However research to contradict Johnson and Scott’s research into the effects of anxiety on EWT comes from Christianson and Hubinette they interviewed 58 real life witnesses of a bank robbery where some had been directly threatened and others were bystanders if was found that recall was more than 75% accurate across all witnesses but those who had been directly threatened had even more accurate accounts this contradicts current research that anxiety reduces the accuracy of EWT because compared to real life cases of those who had high anxiety they were able to focus on key aspects of the event and were successful in the perpetrator being caught
AO3
To evaluate anxiety as a factor affecting the accuracy of EWT the yerkes dodson law can be used this proposes that anxiety and the accuracy of EWT is not a simple relationship. Different levels of anxiety affect the accuracy of EWT too little
