eyewitness testimony: anxiety Flashcards
1
Q
johnson and Scott (76) anxiety has a negative effect:
What is the procedure?
A
- people sat in waiting room believing to be doing a lab study
- each person heard argument in next room:
- low anxiety condition - man walk out carrying pen with grease on hands
- – high anxiety - loud argument, breaking glass, walk out with paper knife covered in blood
people then asked to pick man from 50 photos
2
Q
johnson and Scott (76) anxiety has a negative effect:
what are the findings?
A
- 49% participants in low anxiety able to identify him
- on 33% of high anxiety people identified him
3
Q
johnson and Scott (76) anxiety has a negative effect:
what is the conclusion?
A
- tunnel theory of memory argues a witnesses’ attention is on the weapon (weapon focus)
- because its a source of danger and anxiety
4
Q
Yuille and Cutshall (86) anxiety has a positive effect:
What is the procedure?
A
- in a real crime a shop owner shot a thief dead
21 witnesses, 13 agreed to do study - people interviewed 4-5 months after incident
- accounts compared to police interviews at the time
- witnesses also rate how stress they felt at the time
5
Q
Yuille and Cutshall (86) anxiety has a positive effect:
what are the findings?
A
- witnesses very accurate with little change after 5 months
- some details less accurate like colour of items and age/ weight/ height
- stressed participants got 88% of things right
- less stressed people got 75% of things right
6
Q
explanation of contradiction:
what is the inverted U theory?
A
- Yerkes and Dodson (08)
- said relationship between performance and stress is curvilinear rather than linear
7
Q
explanation of contradiction:
affecting memory
A
- Deffenbacher (83) found lower levels of anxiety produce lower levels of accuracy
- recall accuracy increase with anxiety up to optimal point
drastic decline in accuracy seen when eyewitnesses experience more anxiety than optimal point
8
Q
- Weapon focus effect may not be relevant
A
- Johnson and scott’s study may show people focus on weapon out of surprise rather than anxiety
- Pickel (98) showed video of hairdressers and found recall was poorer when there were unusual objects like a raw chicken or handgun, rather than a pair of scissors
- suggests weapon focus due to unusualness rather than anxiety
9
Q
- field studies sometimes lack control
A
- before a real witness is interviewed, many uncontrollable things will have happened like discussion, accounts in the media, etc.
- possible tat these extraneous variables are responsible for bad recall
- effect of anxiety overwhelmed by these other factors
10
Q
- ethical issues
A
- creating anxiety can cause psychological harm
- real life studies better as they don’t have to create an events
- doest challenge Johnson and Scotts findings but does question need for such research
