Anxiety

Question 1

how does anxiety have a negative effect on recall

Answer 1

• creates physiological arousal in the body which prevents us paying attention to important cues so recall is less
• study the effect of weapons on anxiety

Question 2

who studies the effects of weapons on anxiety

Answer 2

Johnson and Scott (1976)

Question 3

what was the procedure of Johnson and Scott (1976) study

Answer 3

• participants believed they were taking part in a lab study
• whilst in the waiting room participants in the low anxiety condition heard a causal conversation as saw a man walking past with a pen and greasy hands
• in the high anxiety condition participants heard a heated and broken glass conversation where a man walked by with a knife covered in blood

Question 4

findings of Johnson and Scott (1976) study

Answer 4

• participants picked out the man from 50 photos
• 49% who saw the man carrying a pen were able to identify him
• 33% who saw the man carrying a knife were able to identify him

Question 5

how does anxirty have a postive effect on recall

Answer 5

• when anxious the fight or flight response is triggered, increasing alertness
• may improve memory as more cues are picked up on

Question 6

who did a study on the positive effects of anxiety on recall

Answer 6

Yuille and Cutshall (1986)

Question 7

what was the procedure of Yuille and Cutshall (1986) study

Answer 7

• study on an actual shooting in a gun shop in Canada
• shop owner shot a thief dead
• 21 witnesses with 13 taking part in the study
• interviewed 5 months after the incident and were compared with the original police interview at time of shooting
• accuracy was determined by the number of details reported in each account
• witnesses asked to rate how stressed they felt at the time

Question 8

findings of Yuille and Cutshall (1986) study

Answer 8

• witnesses were very accurate in there accounts and there was little change in the accuracy after 5 years
• some details were less accurate like age and height
• participants who reported the highest levels of stress were most accurate (88% compared to 75% of less stressed)

Question 9

what is the explanation for contradictory findings

Answer 9

• Yerkes and Dodson(1908) said the relationship between emotional arousal and performance is an inverted U shape
• once optimum is crossed anxiety has a negative effect on recall

Question 10

strength of anxiety

Answer 10

1. support for negative effect
   - study by Valentine and Mesout (2009) supports the research on weapon focus finding negative effect on recall
   - heart rate used to divide participants into high and low anxiety groups
   - anxiety disrupted the participants ability to recall details about the actor in labyrinth
2. ## support for positive effect

Question 11

limitations pf anxiety

Answer 11

1. unusualness not anxiety
   - Johnson and Scott study may have not studied anxiety
   - participants may have faced on the weapon as they were surprised rather than scared
   - Pickel (1998) conducted the experiment using scissors, handgun wallet and raw chicken
   - eyewitness accuracy was poorer in the unusual conditions - chicken and handgun