Eyewitness Testimony : Anxiety

Question 1

What is one limitation of the anxiety explanation ?

Answer 1

P - One limitation is that anxiety may not be relevant to weapon focus
E - J+S’s participants may have focused on the weapon not because they were anxious but because they were surprised - Pickel found accuracy in identifying the ‘criminal’ was poorest when the object in their hand was unexpected
E - This suggests the weapons effect is due to unusualness rather than anxiety and so tells us nothing about the specific effects of anxiety on recall.

Question 2

What is one strength of the anxiety explanation ?

Answer 2

P - One strength is supporting evidence for negative effects
E - Valentine + Mesout used heart rate (objective measure) to divide visitors to the London Dungeon’s Labyrinth into low- and high-anxiety groups - high-anxiety participants were less accurate than low-anxiety in describing and identifying a target person
E - This supports the claim that anxiety has a negative effect on immediate eyewitness recall of a stressful event.

Question 3

What is another strength of the anxiety explanation ?

Answer 3

P - Another strength is supporting evidence for positive effects
E - Christ