Anxiety in eyewitness testimony Flashcards
What is the negative effect of anxiety in eye witness testimony
weapon focus reduces accuracy of face recognition
How does does anxiety cause a negative effect in eye witness testimony
Anxiety creates physiological arousal which prevents us from paying attention to important cues, so recall is worse
What is the tunnel theory
Explains weapon focus by suggesting that our attention narrows onto a weapon, the source of our anxiety
What is the positive effect of anxiety in eye witness testimony
Real life armed robbery and shooting creates high levels of anxiety, very accurate witnesses
How does does anxiety cause a positive effect in eye witness testimony
anxiety triggers alertness and improves memory
What is the inverted U theory
Recall increases as anxiety increases, but only to a point - then recall gets worse
Explain the weapon focus effect
When a crime involves a weapon, that creates anxiety. A witness will often be focused on the weapon and therefore having less attention on the other details.
Explain the procedure of Johnson and Scott’s 1976 study
P’s sat in a waiting room awaiting a lab experiment.
There were 2 conditions.
Low anxiety p’s heard a conversation and then saw a man walk through carrying a pen with grease on his hands.
High anxiety p’s heard a heated argument, the sound of breaking glass and a man carrying a knife covered in blood
Explain the findings of Johnson and Scott’s 1976 study
P’s asked to identify the man who walked past
Low anxiety = 49% success
High anxiety = 33% success
Evaluate Johnson and Scotts study using Peters 1988 study (strength)
Patients at a real healthcare centre were given a real injection by a nurse, with a researcher also present in the room. It was found that the patients were better able to recognise the researcher than the nurse. This suggests anxiety is caused by having an injection, and there is a weapon focus on the syringe.
Explain the procedure of Yulile and Cutshall’s 1986 study
Used witnesses from real life gun shop crime. Owner shot and killed thief.
21 witnesses 13 agreed to take part
Interviewed 4-5 months after the event
Compared to police interviews at the time
Witnesses reported how stressed they were at the time
Explain the findings of Yulile and Cutshall’s 1986 study
EWT was very accurate and didn’t alter over time.
P’s who reported highest stress were most accurate (88%/75%)
Anxiety doesn’t impair recall it may even improve it.
Explain the procedure of Christianson and Hubinette (1993)
Interviewed witnesses of actual bank robberies
Some directly involved (HA)
Some bystanders (LA)
Explain the findings of Christianson and Hubinette (1993)
75% accurate recall on average
Best recall from HA groups
What is the Yorks - Dodson Law of Arousal
EWT accuracy increases as anxiety raises as the witnesses becomes alert. However, at a point anxiety becomes too high and more stress / distraction results in lower accuracy.
