M8. FAAEWT: Anxiety

Question 1

Anxiety

Answer 1

• physiological response to external pressures
• characterised by increased HR, vasoconstriction, increased sweat production, etc.
• can effect EWT positively and negatively

Question 2

Anxiety; Negative EWT Effect

Answer 2

• high-anxiety condition: P overheard argument in separate room, sound of smashing glass, man walking through waiting room with bloody paper-knife (opposed to greasy pen in low anxiety condition).
• P’s asked to identify. High-anxiety condition 16% less accurate.
• explained by weapon-focus effect (self explanatory) distorts memory.

Question 3

Anxiety; Positive EWT Effect

Answer 3

• Yuille and Cutshall (7-point anxiety scale)
• 13 eyewitnesses, followed up 5 months after shooting
• ‘high’ anxiety = 11% higher than ‘low’

Question 4

• Eval: Yerkes-Dodson Law Oversimplified

Answer 4

• ‘inverted-U’ between increasing arousal and performance
• moderate arousal yields highest performance (in this case: accuracy of EWT)
• doesn’t account for multiple factors that makeup anxiety (cognitive, behavioural, emotional)

Question 5

• Eval: Weapon-Focus Effect

Answer 5

• may be testing for effects of surprise instead of anxiety
• Pickel found highest EWT accuracy occurred in highly unusual situations (e.g. raw chicken in hair salon)
• suggests WFE can only be used to explain certain influences of anxiety on EWT

Question 6

• Eval: Ethical Issues

Answer 6

• P’s exposed to distressing images of car crash (Johnson and Scott)
• Also recalling traumatic crimes (Yuille and Cutshall)
• breaches BPS ‘Protection from Psychological Harm’
• Cost-Benefit Analysis needed to compare ethical costs with increased knowledge on Anxiety and EWT