EWT: Anxiety Flashcards
anxiety
4
anxiety = an unpleasant emotional state often accompanied by an increased heard rate and rapid breathing
anxiety has a negative effect on memory and performance in general, thus reducing accuracy of eye witness testimony
the Yerkes-Dodson hypothesis states that anxiety has a negative effect on accuracy of EWT when it is very high or very low
however, moderate levels of anxiety are actually beneficial and can improve accuracy of EWT — there is an optimal level of anxiety that improves our memory and general performance
explain the weapon focus effect
5
Johnson and Scott (1976) explained the effect of anxiety on eye witness testimony through the weapon focus effect
weapon focus effect = the theory that in a crime the witness will divert attention to the weapon because it elicits anxiety
the weapon focus effect is therefore linked to high anxiety
such anxiety caused by the weapon leaves less attention for other details of the scene such as the perpetrator’s face, which leads to memory impairments regarding those details
suggests that anxiety, due to the weapon focus effect, decreases accuracy of EWT
Johnson and Scott (1976) — procedure and findings
6
participants were asked to sit in a waiting room where they heard an argument occur in the room next door
they then witnessed a man exit that room either holding a pen covered in grease (low anxiety condition) or a knife covered in blood (high anxiety, weapon focus condition)
participants were then asked to identify this man from a set of photographs
found that those who had experienced the low anxiety condition correctly identified the man 49% of the time
while those in the high anxiety/weapon focus condition only correctly identified the man 33% of the time
suggests that high anxiety, caused by the existence of a weapon, has a negative impact on the accuracy of EWT as seen in how accuracy was higher when there was less anxiety
x3 evaluation points
challenged by Pickel
ethically dubious
controlled experiment
EVALUATION
challenged by Pickel
6
potential limitation of Johnson and Scott’s study is that it is challenged by Pickel (1998)
Pickel (1998) suggested that the weapon focus effect and inaccuracy in EWT may be caused by high surprise rather than high anxiety, therefore it’s not anxiety that results in EWT inaccuracy
he arranged for participants to witness a thief enter a hairdressing salon either carrying scissors (high threat, low surprise), a handgun (high threat, high surprise), a wallet (low threat, low surprise) or a raw chicken (low threat, high surprise)
found that identification of the thief (EWT) was least accurate in high surprise conditions rather than in high threat conditions
this suggests that it is actually high surprise that causes inaccuracy in EWT rather than anxiety, which challenges the findings of Johnson and Scott’s study
therefore, Johnson and Scott’s study may be limited in its ability to explain inaccuracy of EWT and should be viewed with caution when doing so as it cannot claim reliability
EVALUATION
ethically dubious
5
Johnson and Scott’s study into the effects of anxiety on eyewitness testimony can be criticised for being epically dubious because numerous ethical guidelines were broken
for example, participants could not give fully informed consent because they were not told the true nature of the experiment
furthermore, they were not adequately protected from harm — some were exposed to a man holding a knife covered in blood which could’ve created feelings of extreme stress and anxiety, especially if they or someone they know has been involved in a knife crime
Johnson and Scott do not seem to consider the implications of exposing their participants to such high stress situations and manipulating anxiety in this way is arguably unethical
therefore, the study may not be the most acceptable study to use when explaining the effects of anxiety on EWT because it contains multiple ethical issues
EVALUATION
controlled experiment
6
a potential strength of Johnson and Scott’s study is that it was conducted in a controlled environment that was set up and designed for the purpose of the experiment
this means that the study may have higher internal validity than real life studies like Yuille and Cutshall’s
this is because variables can be precisely controlled which reduces the likelihood of them interfering with results
therefore, the study may be very useful in explaining the effects of anxiety on EWT as it is an internally valid and precise piece of research
HOWEVER…. a limitation of this is that controlled studies cannot truly or accurately create the real anxiety levels experienced by eyewitnesses in a real crime
such studies will thus lack ecological validity and may be inaccurate in explaining how anxiety effects EWT in the context of a real crime
