Factors affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony: Anxiety Flashcards
What do psychologists state about how anxiety negatively affects recall?
Psychologists state anxiety creates a physiological arousal in the body which prevents us paying attention to important cues, so recall is worse.
Who were the psychologists who conducted research into the negative effects of anxiety on recall?
Johnson and Scott
What was the research Johnson and Scott conducted into the negative effects of anxiety on recall?
Johnson and Scott had participants sat in a waiting room, listening to an argument in the next room. Participants in condition one saw a man walk out with a pen and participants in condition two saw a man walk out with a bloody knife. When asked to identify the man, participants who saw a pen were 49% correct whereas participants who saw the knife were 33% correct.
What were the conclusions of Johnson and Scott’s study?
Johnson and Scott concluded that anxiety reduced the accuracy of memory because participants focused more on the weapon rather than the man, because of something referred to as the weapon focus effect.
The tunnel theory of memory argues that a witness’s attention narrows to focus on a weapon, because it is a source of anxiety
Who were the psychologist that explained the contradictory findings in anxiety?
Yerkes and Dodson
What did Yerkes and Dodson develop to explain the contradictory findings?
What did Yerkes and Dodson develop to
Yerkes and Dodson developed the inverted - U law. Stating lower levels of anxiety produced lower levels of recall accuracy, but memory becomes more accurate as the level of anxiety experienced increases.
There is an optimal level of anxiety that can be reached, which is the level of maximum accuracy. If an eyewitness experienced any more stress than this, their their recall of the event suffers a drastic decline
What is a limitation of the research into the effects of anxiety on eyewitness testimonies? (weapon focus effect may not be relevant)
This study lacks internal validity, as the study may test surprise instead of anxiety. Pickel conducted an experiment using scissors, a handgun, a wallet and a raw chicken in a hairdressing salon. The eyewitness testimonies’ accurate was significantly poorer in the conditions where there was high unusualness, which produced high anxiety. This displays how the weapon focus effect is due to unusualness rather than anxiety and therefore tells us nothing specifically about the effect of anxiety on EWT.
What is a limitation of the research into the effects of anxiety on eyewitness testimonies? (field studies sometimes lack control)
Researchers interview real life eyewitness sometime after the event, which could leave room for confounding variables, like post event discussion. This is a limitation of field research because it is possible that these extraneous variables may be responsible for the accuracy (or lack thereof) of recall. The effects of anxiety may be overwhelmed by these other factors making it harder to assess by the time participants are interviewed.
What is a limitation of the research into the effects of anxiety on eyewitness testimonies? (ethical issues)
By creating anxiety in participants, ethical issues can arise. Potentially being unethical because it may subject people to psychological harm for the purposes of the research. This issue questions the need for the research.
What is a limitation of the research into the effects of anxiety on eyewitness testimonies? (the inverted U explanation is too simplistic)
Anxiety is very difficulty to define and measure accurately. One reason for this is that it has many elements, like cognitive and behavioural. However the inverted U explanation, assumes only one of these is linked to poor performance - physiological arousal.
