Memory:Accuracy of eyewitness testimony - anxiety Flashcards
What is anxiety?
Unpleasant emotional state that physically arouses an individual, often through increased heart and breathing rate.
Who investigated the negative effects of anxiety on EWT?
Johnson and Scott (1976)
Who investigated the positive effects of anxiety on EWT?
Christianson and Hubinette (1993)
Define the weapon focus effect
The view that a weapon in a criminal’s hand distracts attention (because of the anxiety it creates) from other features and therefore reduces the accuracy of identification.
What was the procedure of Johnson + Scott’s study?
Ppts we’re asked to sit in a waiting room where they could hear an argument on an adjoining room. Next they saw a man run through the room carrying either a greasy pen or a knife covered in blood. Ppts we’re later asked to identify the man from a set of photographs.
What were the findings of Johnson + Scott’s study?
The findings supported the weapon focus effect. Recall if the man was 49% effective in the greasy pen condition but only 33% effective in the bloody knife condition.
What was the aim of Christianson and Hubinette’s study?
To investigate how recall can be improved through increased arousal
What was the procedure of Christianson and Hubinette’s study?
58 witnesses were asked questions about a real bank robbery in Sweden. The witness were either victims or bystanders. The interviews were conducted 4-15 months later.
What were the findings of Christianson and Hubinette’s study?
the victims (who were most anxious) had the best recall which suggests that anxiety doesn’t reduce accuracy of recall, thus contradicting Johnson and Scott’s research.
How did Deffenbacher (1983) resolve the contradiction?
Reviewed 21 studies of the effects of anxiety on eyewitness memory. He found that 10 of these studies has results that linked higher arousal levels to increase eyewitness accuracy while 11 of them showed the opposite. This caused Deffenbacher to suggest that the Yerkes-Dodson effect can account for this inconsistency.
What is the Yerkes-Dodson effect?
The observation that arousal has a negative effect on performance (such as memory recall) when it is very low or very high. However moderate levels are actually beneficial. This was illustrated by an inverted U-shape curve.
What are the 4 AO3 points for accuracy of EWT - anxiety?
+ Ecological Validity
+Fight or Flight response supports Christianson and Hubinette
-Experimental design – Christianson and Hubinette Study
-Ethical Issues (Johnson and Scott)
(+AO3) Why is research into the effects of anxiety on EWT high in ecological validity?
Johnson and Scott’s ppts were unaware that the scenario was fake while Christianson and Hubinette’s interviews were taken in the context of a deal crime. Whereas lab studies lead to less anxiety. Bank robbery study was also a real life study. Conditions in these studies have are much closer to real life conditions so can apply to the real world which also strengthens the studies external validity.
(+AO3) Why does the flight or fight response support Christianson and Hubinette?
The fight or flight response is an alternative argument that high anxiety created mode enduring memories. The stress of witnessing a violent crime created anxiety due to physiological arousal in the body. When the fight or flight response is triggered it increases our alertness and improves our memory of the event because we become more aware of the cues in the situation.
(-AO3) Why was the experimental design a weakness for Christianson and Hubinette’s Study
The study was a naturalistic design which is susceptible to biasing due to the effect of extraneous variables. For example, effects of post-event discussion reduces the accuracy of EWT. Therefore, it’s difficult to establish a causal relationship which causes a lack of reliability in the study.
