Factors affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony: Anxiety Flashcards
describe anxiety
a state of emotional and physical arousal, the emotions can include having worried thoughts and feelings of tension
physical changes include an increased heart rate and sweating
anxiety is a normal reaction to stressful situations, but it can affect the accuracy and detail of eyewitness testimony
describe research into negative effects of anxiety on recall (weapon focus)
anxiety creates physiological arousal in the body which prevents us paying attention to important cues, so recall is worse
johnson and scott (1976) researched weapon focus, ppts believed they were taking part in a lab study, while seated in a waiting room ppts in the low-anxiety condition heard a casual convo in the next room and then saw a man walk past them carrying a pen
other ppts overheard a heated argument, accompanied by the sound of breaking glass, a man walked out the room holding a knife covered in blood
describe the findings and conclusions of research into negative effects of anxiety on recall (weapon focus)
ppts later picked out the man from a set of 50 photos, 49% who had seen the man carrying a pen were able to identify him
corresponding figure was 33% for ppts who had seen the man carrying a knife
the tunnel theory of memory argues that people have enhanced memory for central events, weapon focus as a result of anxiety can have this effect
describe research into the positive effects of anxiety on recall
the fight or flight response being triggered by anxiety may improve memory for the event as we become more aware of cues in the situation
yuille and cutshall (1986) conducted a study of an actual shooting in a gun shop, the shop owner shot a thief dead
13 witnesses took part in the study, they were interviewed 4-5 months after the incident and these were compared to the initial police interviews
accuracy was determined by the number of details reported in each account
ppts also asked to rate stress level and symptoms after events
describe and findings and conclusion of research into positive effects of anxiety on recall
the witnesses were very accurate in their accounts and there was little change in the amount recalled or accuracy after 5 months
those ppts who reported the highest levels of stress were most accurate
this suggests that anxiety does not have a detrimental effect on the accuracy of EWT in a real-world context and may even enhance it
explain the contradictory findings of positive effects of anxiety on recall
yerkes and dodson (1908) state the relationship between emotional arousal and performance looks like an inverted U
when we experience anxiety when witnessing a crime/accident, lower levels of anxiety produce lower levels of recall anxiety, and then memory becomes more accurate as level of anxiety increases
there is an optimal level of anxiety, which is the point of maximum accuracy, then recall suffers a drastic decline
why might have the johnson and scott study not tested anxiety (limitation)
the reason ppts focused on the weapon may be because they were surprised at what they saw rather than scared
pickel conducted an experiment using different items, EWT accuracy was significantly poorer in the high unusualness conditions
suggests the weapon focus effect is due to unusualness rather than anxiety/threat and therefore tells us nothing specifically about the effects of anxiety
what is the supporting evidence for the view that anxiety has negative effects (strength)
valentine and mesout (2009) used an objective measure to divide ppts into high and low anxiety groups
in this study anxiety clearly disrupted the ppts ability to recall details about the actor in the dugeons labyrinth
suggests that a high level of anxiety does have a negative effect on the immediate EW recall of a stressful event
what is the supporting evidence for the view that anxiety has positive effects (strength)
psychologists interviewed 58 witnesses of actual bank robberies
some were directly involved, and some indirectly
researchers assumed that those directly involved would experience the most anxiety, found that recall was more than 75% accurate across all witnesses, the direct (most anxious) victims were even more accurate
these findings from actual crimes confirm that anxiety does not reduce the accuracy of recall for EW
what is a counterpoint of the research into positive effects of anxiety on EWT (limitation)
christianson and hubinette interviewed their ppts several months after the events, they had no control over what happened to ppts during the intervening time (e.g., post-event discussions)
the effects of anxiety may have been overwhelmed by these other factors and impossible to assess by the time the ppts were interviewed
therefore, lack of control over confounding variables may be responsible for the findings, invalidating their support
