Eyewitness Testimony: Anxiety Flashcards
What is Anxiety?
A state of emotional and physical arousal. The emotions include having worried thoughts and feelings of tension. Physical changes include an increased heart rate and sweatiness. Anxiety is a normal reaction to stressful situations, but can affect the accuracy and detail of eyewitness testimony.
Anxiety has a negative effect on recall - Johnson and Scott (1976) - Weapon Focus Effect - Aim
To investigate the effect of anxiety on eye witness testimony.
Anxiety has a negative effect on recall - Johnson and Scott (1976) - Weapon Focus Effect - Procedure
Johnson and Scott invited participants to a laboratory where they were told to wait in the reception area. The receptionist excused herself leaving the participant alone. In the ‘no weapon’ group the participant overheard a conversation about equipment failure then an individual left the laboratory passing the participant with a a pen in hand and his hands covered in grease. In the ‘weapon group’ the participants heard an altercation and the sound of breaking glass and chairs falling then an individual left running into the reception area holding a bloody letter opener. Both groups were then shown 50 photographs and asked to identify the person who had left the laboratory. The participants were informed that the suspect may, or may not be present in the photographs.
Anxiety has a negative effect on recall - Johnson and Scott (1976) - Weapon Focus Effect - Findings
Those who had witnessed the man holding a pen correctly identified the suspect 49% of the time, compared to those who had witnessed the man holding a knife, who correctly identified the target 33% of the time. The participants who were exposed to the knife had higher levels of anxiety and were more likely to focus their attention on the weapon and not the face of the target, a phenomenon known as the weapon focus effect. Therefore, the anxiety associated with seeing a knife reduces the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.
Anxiety has a negative effect on recall - Johnson and Scott (1976) - Weapon Focus Effect - Conclusion
Anxiety does have a negative effect on recall.
Anxiety has a negative effect on recall - Johnson and Scott (1976) - Weapon Focus Effect - Strength
High internal validity as variables were controlled.
Anxiety has a negative effect on recall - Johnson and Scott (1976) - Weapon Focus Effect - Weakness
Ethical issues as the study induced anxiety. Ppts were deceived about the nature of the experiment and not protected from harm.
Anxiety has a negative effect on recall - Johnson and Scott (1976) - Weapon Focus Effect - Weakness
Case study by Yuille and Cutshall contradict the results of this experiment.
Anxiety has a negative effect on recall - Johnson and Scott (1976) - Weapon Focus Effect - Weakness
Low ecological validity as although ppts were waiting in the reception area outside the laboratory, they may have anticipated that something was about to happen which could have affected the accuracy of their judgements.
Anxiety has a positive effect on recall - Yuille and Cutshall (1986) - Fight or flight - Aim
To investigate the accuracy of recall of eye witnesses to a real crime, in response to leading questions and over time.
Anxiety has a positive effect on recall - Yuille and Cutshall (1986) - Fight or flight - Procedure
The crime scene was in Vancouver. A thief entered a gun shop and tied up the owner before stealing money and guns from the shop. The owner freed himself, and thinking that the thief had escaped, went outside the shop. But the thief was still there and shot him twice. Police had been called and there was gunfire - and the thief was eventually killed. As the incident took place in front of the shop, there were eyewitnesses - 21 were interviewed by the police. The researchers chose this incident to study because there were enough witnesses and there was forensic evidence available to confirm the stories of the eyewitnesses. The researchers contacted the eyewitnesses four months after the event. 13 of the eyewitnesses agreed to be interviewed as part of a study. They gave their account of the incident, and then they were asked questions. Two leading questions were used. Half the group was asked if they saw a broken headlight on the getaway car. The other half was asked if they saw a yellow panel on the car (the panel was actually blue). They were also asked to rate their stress on the day of the event on a seven point scale.
Anxiety has a positive effect on recall - Yuille and Cutshall (1986) - Fight or flight - Findings
- There was little difference between the eyewitness account provides at the time of the crime and 4-5 months later.
- Participants who reported being the most stressed were the most accurate (88% vs 75%).
Anxiety has a positive effect on recall - Yuille and Cutshall (1986) - Fight or flight - Conclusion
The fight or flight response increases our alertness and improves our memory because we focus more on cues.
Anxiety has a positive effect on recall - Yuille and Cutshall (1986) - Fight or flight - Strength
As a field study, it has strong ecological validity.
Anxiety has a positive effect on recall - Yuille and Cutshall (1986) - Fight or flight - Strength
High internal validity as it looks at real witnesses and events.
