EWT - Anxiety

Question 1

what’s the weapon focus effect? what does it prevent?

Answer 1

When the attention spotlight is drawn to dangerous objects (such as a knife or a gun), preventing perception of other important details.

Question 2

Christianson and Hubinette (1993)
- what kind of experiment?
- aim?
- what did all the participants see?
- what were the two IV’s and what did they test on
- what did they find
- what was their final conclusion?

Answer 2

• Quasi experiment (naturally occurring IV)
• aim was to investigate the effects of anxiety on eyewitness testimony
• they all witnessed a bank robbery
• the two IV’s were victims involved and bystanders, and they tested how accurately they could recall the events
• they found that all particpants had an above accuracy of 75%
  recall scores and anxiety levels showed a positive correlation
  This showed that explicit memory formation is better when anxious

Question 3

Johnson and Scott (1976)
- what happened during this study?
- what were the two IV’s
- what were the results?

Answer 3

Participants in this study were left in a waiting area outside a laboratory whilst waiting for the “real” study to start. While they were waiting one of two situations occurred:
- Low Anxiety
They overheard a discussion in the laboratory about equipment failure, followed by a man leaving the laboratory holding a pen and with grease on his hands
- High anxiety
They overheard a heated discussion in the laboratory with the sound of breaking glass and crashing chairs, followed by a man leaving the laboratory carrying a paper knife covered in blood.
- The participants were later asked to identify the man from a set of 50 photographs with the result that 49% correctly identified the man holding the pen, but only 33% could identify the man with the bloodstained knife.