Anxiety and EWT Flashcards
what is the yerkes-dodson law theory?
suggests there is an optimum level of anxiety that can actually improve our memory, however having too much anxiety can leave us incapable of producing an accurate EWT
what did Johnson and Scott (1976) study?
found that when a weapon was involved in a crime, witnesses tended to focus more on the weapon than the offender
if an offender was holding a pen, they didn’t report this as significant and were more focused on the offender
what did Deffenbachter et al (2004) study?
meta analysis of 21 studies
found that high levels of stress negatively affected the accuracy of EWT
what did Christianson and Hubinette (1993) study?
questioned 110 real victims of a bank robbery
found those who had actually been threatened with the weapon were more accurate at recalling the faces of the bank robbers compared to those who were just bystanders
what did Yuille and Cutshall (1986) study?
witnesses to a real life gun shooting outside a gun shop
a thief stole guns and money and was shot 6 times and died
witnesses were interviewed and 13 were interviewed 5 months later
recall was found to be accurate even after 5 months, and misleading questions did not effect recall
those with the highest level of stress had the best recall
