Lesson 11: Anxiety and Eyewitness testimony Flashcards
What is anxiety?
A state of APPREHENSION, uncertainty and fear resulting from a threatening situations
What can high levels of anxiety impair?
Physical and psychological functioning
What have psychologists suggested about anxiety in relation to eye witness testimony
it can effect the ACCURATE recall of a crime
What is the WEAPON focus affect?
Crimes involving weapons induce HIGH levels of anxiety as they are seen to be LIFE THREATENING.
-Eyewtinesses of a crime involving a WEAPON can often describe the criminals’ weapon in DETAIL but not much about the criminal themselves
Who investigated the effect of anxiety on eyewitness testimony?
Loftus (1979)
Outline the procedure of Loftus’ experiment into anxiety
Experimental condition:
1) Participants heard a HEATED argument between two people + ALSO heard furniture being overturned and broken glass
2) A man emerged from the room with a LETTER opener covered in BLOOD
CONTROL condition:
1) participants overheard a CONVERSATION between two people about laboratory equipment failure
2) A man with grease all over his hands emerged carrying a PEN
-Participants were then asked to identify the person they had just seen from 50 photos.
Outline the FINDINGS of the procedure of Loftus’ experiment into anxiety+ eyewitness testimony
only 33% in the bloody letter opener condition were able to recognise the photo of the person carrying the letter opener
WHEREAS
49% of participants were able to recognise the person carrying the pen in the control group condition
According to Loftus why was there worse recall of the person carrying the bloody letter opener
majority of participants were focused on the bloody letter opener than the individual carrying it
State a POSITIVE evaluation of anxiety on eyewitness testimony
(Hint: Violent shooting vs non violent video)
+ This study is supported by other research studies.
LOFTUS & Burns (1982) allocated participants into one of two conditions:
1) One group watched a violent short film where a BOY was SHOT in the head.
2)The other group watched a non- violent short film of a crime.
Participants were less accurate in RECALL when they saw the short film with a GUN than those who watched the non-violent movie.
State a NEGATIVE evaluation of anxiety and eyewitness testimony
(Hint:
- This study lacks ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY.
Although they were waiting in the RECEPTION area outside of the laboratory, they may have anticipated that something was going to happen
This could have affected the accuracy of their judgements and the validity of the study.
State a NEGATIVE evaluation of anxiety and eyewitness testimony
(Hint: Ethical guidelines + psychological harm)
- This study violated ETHICAL guidelines.
The participants were DECEIVED about the nature of the experiment and were not protected from PSYCHOLOGICAL HARM.
The participants were exposed to a man who they were led to believe had just KILLED someone, holding a bloodied knife, which could have caused them extreme DISTRESS.
Participants may have left the experiment feeling exceptionally stressed, especially if they, or someone they knew, had been involved in knife crime.
State a NEGATIVE evaluation of anxiety and eyewitness testimony
- Yuille and Cutshall (1986) investigated the effect of anxiety in a real life
SHOOTING, in which one person was killed and another person seriously wounded.
21 witnesses were originally interviewed by investigating police and 13 of these
witnesses, aged between 15 and 32, agreed to take part in Yuille and Cutshall’s
follow-up interview five months later.
The witnesses were accurate in their eyewitness accounts five months later and little change was found in their, testimony.
Furthermore, the witnesses avoided leading questions and those who had been most distressed at the time of the shooting gave the most accurate account.
In real life cases leading questions and anxiety do not affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimony the same way they do in the laboratory.
State a NEGATIVE evaluation of anxiety and eyewitness testimony
- There are individual differences in how anxiety affects memory. Some people
actually have better recall when they are anxious. Christianson and Hubinette
(1983) conducted a research study using 110 real life eyewitnesses who had
witnessed one of 22 bank robberies. Some were onlookers and some were bank
clerks who had been directly threatened by the robbers. It was found that
victims were more accurate than onlookers in their description of the bank
robbers.
