Anxiety

Question 1

What is anxiety?

Answer 1

A state of emotional and physical arousal

Question 2

What is not clear about the effects of anxiety?

Answer 2

• whether these effects make eyewitness recall better or worse
• research supports both possibilities

Question 3

What is one approach to studying anxiety and EWT and what does this lead to?

Answer 3

• look at the effect of the presence of a weapon which creates anxiety
• leads to focus on weapon reducing a witness’s recall for other details of the event (negative effect)

Question 4

What was Johnson and Scott’s procedure to test negative effects of anxiety on EWT?

Answer 4

• did research on weapon focus effect
• p’s believed they were taking part in a lab study > they were seated in a waiting room
• low anxiety condition = heard a casual conversation in the next room & then saw a man walk past with a pen & grease in hands
• high anxiety condition = p’s overheard heated argument & sound of breaking glass.
  >Then a man walked out of the room holding a knife covered in blood

Question 5

What were the findings from Johnson & Scott’s procedure about anxiety & recall?

Answer 5

• participants had to pick out man from set of 50 photos
• 49% who had seen the man carrying the pen were able to identify him
• 33% in blood covered condition
  anxiety=negative affect on recall

Question 6

What were the conclusions from Johnson & Scott’s study?

Answer 6

• The tunnel theory of memory argues that people have enhanced memory for central events.
• Weapon focus as a result of anxiety can have this effect

Question 7

What was Yuille & Cutshall study to test positive effects of anxiety on EWT?

Answer 7

• conducted a study of an actual shooting in a gun shop in Vancouver Canada > shop owner shot a thief dead
• 13 witnesses took part in study > interviewed 4-5 months after incident
• interviews compared with original police interviews at the time of shooting
• accuracy determined by the number of details reported in each account
• also asked them to rate how stressed they had felt & any emotional problems they had after event

Question 8

What were Yuille & Cutshall’s findings and conclusions?

Answer 8

• witnesses were very accurate in their accounts,
• some details less accurate such a age/height/weight estimates
• p’s that reported highest levels of stress were most accurate (88% compared to less stressed group 75%)
  anxiety =positive affect

Question 9

What contradictory findings on the effects on anxiety did Deffenbacher find?

Answer 9

• reviewed 21 studies of EWT
• used Yerkes-Dodson law to explain contradictory findings
• when we experience a crime/accident we experience anxiety & physiological changes in our body (F or F)
  lower levels of anxiety= lower levels of recall accuracy
  higher levels of anxiety= high levels of recall accuracy
• optimum level of anxiety= point of maximum accuracy
  any more arousal = recall declines drastically

Question 10

What is a limitation of Johnson & Scott’s study?

Answer 10

• it may not have tested anxiety
• Pickel argues the reason p’s focused on weapon is because they were surprised rather than scared
• She conducted an experiment using scissors, handgun, raw chicken & a wallet as hand-held items in hairdressing salon video> found that EWT more poorer in high unusualness conditions (chicken & handgun)
• Weapon focus effect due to unusualness rather than anxiety

Question 11

What support is there for the negative effects of anxiety on recall?

Answer 11

• Valentine & Mesout support research on weapon focus
• they used HR to divide p’s into high & low anxiety groups
• found that anxiety disrupted p’s ability to recall details about the actor in the London Dungeon’s Labyrinth
• suggest that high level anxiety does have a negative effect on immediate eye witness recall of stressful event

Question 12

What support is there for the positive effects of anxiety?

Answer 12

• researchers interviewed witness to bank robberies in Sweden
• some of the witnesses were directly involved (bank workers) some indirectly (bystanders)
• Direct victims were much more accurate in their recall (more anxious)
• findings from actual crimes confirm anxiety does not reduce recall accuracy but may enhance it

Question 13

What is a counterpoint to the study done to support positive effects of anxiety on EWT?

Answer 13

• they interviewed their p’s several months after the event took place
• effects of anxiety may have been influenced by these other factors e.g. post event discussions which they had no control of within that time
• lack of control over confounding variables may be responsible for findings, invalidating their support