factors affecting eyewitness testimony: anxiety Flashcards
what is anxiety
anxiety is a state of emotional and physical arousal
The emotions include having worried thoughts and feelings of tension.
The physical changes include increased heart rate and sweatiness
This is a normal reaction to stressful reactions but can affect eye- witness testimonies
what is the affects of anxiety
anxiety has a strong emotional and physical effects
But it is not clear whether these effects make eye - witness recall better or worse
There is research to support both these possibilities
how does anxiety cause a negative effect on recall
anxiety create a physiological arousal in the body which prevents us paying attention to important cues, co recall is worse
what research is there into the negative effect of anxiety on recall
one approach to studying anxiety and eyewitness testimony has been to look at the effect of weapons (which create anxiety) on accuracy of recall on the witness
PROCEDURE:
Johnson and Scott (1976) did research on this
They led participants to believe they were going to take part in a lab study
While seated in a waiting room participants heard an argument in the next room. In the “low anxiety” condition a man then walked through the waiting area, carrying a pen with grease on his hands (condition 1)
other participants overheard the heated argument, but this time accompanied by the sound of breaking glass. A man walked out of the room, holding a paper knife that was covered in blood. This was the “high anxiety” condition
what were the findings of Johnson and Scott’s research into the negative affect of anxiety
FINDINGS:
The participants later picked out the man from a set of 50 photo, 49% of the participants who had seen the man carrying the pen were able to identify him
The corresponding figure for the participants who seen the man holding the blood - covered knife was just 33%.
THE TUNNEL THEORY OF MEMORY argues that a witness’s attention narrows to focus on a weapon, because it is the source of anxiety
how does anxiety have a positive effect on recall
The stress of witnessing a crime or accident creates anxiety through physiological arousal within the body.
The fight or flight response is triggered which increases our alertness and improves our memory for the event because we become more aware of cues in the situation
what research is there into the positive effect of anxiety on recall
PROCEDURE:
John Yuille and Judith Cutshall (1986) conducted a study of a real - life shooting in a gun shop in Vancouver, Canada
The shop owner shot a thief dead
There were 21 witnesses - 13 agreed to take part in the study
The interviews were held 4 – 5 months after the incident and these were compared with the original police interviews made at the time of the shooting.
Accuracy was determined by the number of details reported in each account
The witnesses were also asked to rate how stressed they had felt at the time of the incident, using a 7 point scale , and asked if they had any emotional problems since the event, sch as sleeplessness
what were the findings of Yuille and Cutshall’s research into the positive effect of anxiety on recall
The witnesses were very accurate in their accounts and there was little change in the amount or accuracy after 5 months though some details were less accurate, such as recollection of the colour of items and age/ height/ weight estimates
Those participants who reported the highest levels of stress were most accurate (about 88% compared to 75% for the less stressed group)
why is there both negative and positive findings to do with the effect of the anxiety on witness recall (contradictory findings)
According to Robert Yerkes and John Dodson (1908) the relationship between emotional arousal and performance looks like an “inverted U”
Yerkes - Dodson Law states:
This inverted U theory states that performance will increase stress but only to a certain point, where it decreases drastically
Kenneth Deffenbacher (1983) applied the Yerkes- Dodson Law to EWT.
Lower levels of anxiety produce lower levels of recall accuracy. But memory becomes more accurate as the level of anxiety increases - supported by the graph.
However, there comes a point where the optimal level of anxiety is reached. This is the point of maximum accuracy
- if an eyewitness experiences any more stress than this, then their recall of the event sufferers a drastic decline
