Anxiety Flashcards
What is the definition of anxiety?
A state of emotional and physical arousal. The emotions include having worried thoughts and feelings of tension. Physical changes include an increased heart rate and sweatiness. Anxiety is a normal reaction to stressful situations, but can affect the accuracy and detail of eyewitness testimony.
Who conducted research that showed anxiety had a negative effect on recall?
Johnson and Scott
What was Johnson and Scott’s procedure?
They led participants to believe that they were going to take part in a lab study. Whilst seated in a waiting room, participants heard an argument in the next room.
In the ‘low anxiety condition’ a man then walked through the waiting area, carrying a pen with grease on his hands.
In the ‘high anxiety condition’, the participants heard the same heated argument but this time accompanied by the sound of breaking glass. A man walked out of the room, holding a knife that was covered in blood.
What did Johnson and Scott find?
The participants later picked out the man from a set of 50 photos; 49% of the participants who had seen the man carrying the pen were able to identify him compared to 33% of participants who saw the man with the knife.
What is the tunnel theory of memory?
The tunnel theory of memory argues that a witnesses’ attention narrows to focus on a weapon, as it is a source of anxiety so the recall is significantly reduced.
Who conducted research that showed anxiety had a positive effect on recall?
Yuille and Cutshall
What was Yuille and Cutshall’s procedure?
Conducted a study of a real-life shooting in a gun shop in Vancouver, Canada. The shop owner shot a thief dead. There were 21 witnesses to the shooting and 13 of them agreed to partake in the study. The interviews were held 4-5 months after the incident and then compared with the original police interviews made at the time. Accuracy was determined by the number of details reported in each account. The witnesses were also asked to rate how stressed they had felt at the time of the incident, using a 7-point scale, and asked if they had any emotional problems since.
What did Yuille and Cutshall find?
The witnesses were very accurate in their accounts and there was little change in the amount of accuracy after 5 months. Those participants who reported the highest levels of stress were most accurate (about 88% compared to 75% in the less stressed groups)
What law can be used to explain contradictory research findings into the influence of anxiety?
Yerkes-Dodson Law
What are the four evaluation points into the effect of anxiety on EWT?
- Contradictory research makes findings unreliable as they are inconclusive and inconsistent
- Field studies (Yuille and Cutshall) lack sufficient control
- Ethical issues in Johnson and Scott’s study
- Yerkes-Dodson Law is too simplistic when explaining anxiety.
What is Yerkes-Dodson Law and how can it be used to explain contradictory research findings?
According to Yerkes& Dodson, the relationship between emotional arousal and performance looks like an ‘inverted U’. Deffenbacher applied this law to EWT. Lower levels of anxiety produce lower levels of recall, but memory becomes more accurate as the level of anxiety increases. However, there is a point where the optimum anxiety is reached. If an eyewitness experiences any more anxiety than this, recall declines.
Why is Yerkes-Dodson Law too simplistic?
Anxiety is very difficult to define and measure accurately, especially because it affects everyone in different ways and has many different elements – cognitive, behavioural, emotional and physical. Yerkes-Dodson only assumes one of these elements is linked to poor performance: physical arousal.
Why are there ethical complications with Johnson and Scott’s study?
Participants are deceived with the intent of creating anxiety for the purposes of research – the participants believe they are there for a lab study and do not know that the men carrying a pen/knife are confederates. It is a breach of the ethical guidelines as it is risky to subject people to psychological harm
Why does Yuille and Cutshall’s study lack sufficient control?
real-life eyewitnesses were interviewed after the event had taken place, meaning that anything could have happened to them in the meantime such as discussion with other people, reading accounts and interviews with the police. These extraneous variables may be responsible for the accuracy of recall
