Factors Affecting EWT: Anxiety(M) Flashcards
Define 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 accuracy and detail of EWT
What creates anxiety and what does this result in?
Stressful situations create anxiety and this results in physiological and psychological changes that affect what we remember
Why does anxiety have a negative affect on recall?
It creates arousal in the body which prevents us from paying attention to important cues and therefore recall is worse
How carried out an experiment into anxiety having a negative affect on recall?
Johnson and Scott (1976)
What was Johnson and Scott’s experiment?
Led participants to believe that were taking part in a lab study
While seated in waiting room, argument heard in next room
In low anxiety conditions, man walked past with a pen and grease on his hands
Other participants overheard the argument but accompanied with the sound of glass
In high anxiety condition a man then walks past hiking a paper knife covered in blood
What were the results of Johnson and Scott’s Experiment?
When participants had to pick out the man from a selection of 50, 49% picked out correct person when holding a pen
Only 33% when holding a knife- tunnel theory of memory (narrow focus on weapon because source of anxiety)
How can anxiety have a positive effect on recall?
Witnessing a crime creates anxiety through physiological response- resulting in fight or flight which is triggered by alertness
Whose study supported anxiety having a positive effect on recall?
Yuille and Cutshall (1968)
What was Yuille and Cutshalls study?
Studied real-life shooting in a gun shop in Vancouver in which shop owner shot thief dead
There was 21 witnesses and 13 agreed to take part
Interviews were held over 4-5 months after the incident and were compared to initial police interviews
Accuracy was determined by number of details reported in each account
PP’s asked to rate (scale of 7) how stressed they felt at the time and if they had suffered any emotional problems (sleeplessness)
What were the results of Yuille and Cutshalls experiment?
Witness accounts were accurate with little change although some were not as good with things such a colour of clothing
Those who reported higher stress levels were most accurate (88% compared to 75% for those less stressed)
Who explains contradictory findings?
Yerkes and Dodson (1908) - inverted U theory
Suggests that a level of arousal was required
Why may weapon focus not be relevant (evaluation)?
Reasons why participants focus on the weapon may be because they are surprised at what they see rather than because they are scared
Who and what was the experiment suggesting that weapon focus may not be relevant? (Evaluation)
Pickles (1998)
Conducted an expriment using scissors, a handgun, a wallet or a raw chicken as handheld items in a hairdressing salon video
EW accuracy was significantly poorer in the highly unusual conditions (chicken and handgun)
Suggesting weapon focus is due to unusualness rather than anxiety/threat and therefore tells is nothing specifically about effects of EWT
Why do field studies sometimes lack control? (Evaluation)
Influence of media (newspapers, TV, radio, social media ect) - extraneous variables
What are the ethical issues? (Evaluation)
It is subjected to psychological harm- why real life situations are so beneficial - already witnessed a real-life event so no need to create it
