Cognitive Psychology: Influence of Anxiety on Eyewitness Testimony Flashcards
What is Anxiety?
It is an unpleasant state where we fear something bad is about to happen.
Name a Study that investigated the effects of Anxiety on Eyewitness Testimony
Deffenbacher et al. (2004)
What was the Procedure?
Deffenbacher carried out a meta-analysis over 18 studies looking at the effects of anxiety on accuracy of eyewitness recall.
What were the findings?
Deffenbacher concluded from the results that high levels of anxiety had a negative impact on the accuracy of EWT
Name a study that looked into the effects of Weapon Focus on accuracy of EWT
Loftus et al. (1987) identified the Weapon Focus effect, which she then investigated in a study using two conditions. In one condition ppts would hear a conversation in the room next door, and a man would step out with a pen and grease on his hands. In the second condition the conversation was a lot more aggressive and the man instead walks out with a knife and blood on his hands.
What did they find?
When asked to identify the man from 50 pictures, in condition 1 49% were accurate compared to condition 2 which were only 33% accurate.
What were the conclusions drawn from this study?
The results suggests that the weapon may have distracted attention from the person holding it and therefore might explain why eyewitnesses’ sometimes have poor recall for certain details of the crime.
