Memory (Accuracy of eyewitness testimony: anxiety)

Question 1

Anxiety’s effect on eyewitness testimony -

Answer 1

Stress and anxiety have a negative effect on memory as well as performance generally.

Question 2

Key study Johnson and Scott (1976):

Answer 2

A reason why anxiety may reduce the effects and accuracy of EWT is weapon focus, the idea a weapon in the criminals hand distracts attention.

Question 3

Procedure - 1976 Johnson and Scott -
Who show that anxiety does reduce EWT.

Answer 3

• Participants were asked to sit in a waiting room
• Heard an argument in the adjoining room where they saw a man run through the room.
• Conditions consisted of the man carrying either a pen covered in grease (low anxiety condition) or a knife covered in blood (high anxiety condition.
• Were then later on asked to identify the man from a set of 50 photographs.

Question 4

Findings - 1976 Johnson and Scott -
Who show anxiety does reduce EWT.

Answer 4

• Support the idea of weapon focus effect
• Mean accuracies of identifying the man in the conditions was:
• 49% identified the man with a greasy pen whereas the man with a bloody knife was 33%.
  Loftus’ ideas have shown anxiety does focus our attention on central features of the crime (murder weapon). Researchers monitored eye movements and found the presence of a weapon caused attention to be physically drawn to the weapon and away from the persons face.

Question 5

Anxiety alternative explanation -

Answer 5

May show high anxiety or arousal created more enduring or accurate memories. Based on evolutionary arguments.

Question 6

Christianson and Hubinette (1993) study - which suggests that high anxiety and arousal have positive effects on EWT.

Answer 6

Christianson and Hubinette found evidence of enhanced recall of 58 real witnesses of bank robberies in Sweden they were either victims who worked in the bank or who were bystanders who were being served in the bank.

Researchers found that all individuals showed good recall of memories for details of the robbery itself. Better than 75% accuracy recall. Those witnesses who were most anxious produce the best memory recall, suggesting that anxiety does not reduce accuracy of recall.

Question 7

Strengths of the 1976 Johnson and Scott study -

Answer 7

• Laboratory experiment, means highly controlled setting and potential extraneous variables and confounding variables can be controlled, allows a more confident answer in establishing cause and effect of IV which is level of anxiety and DV of memory recall.

Question 8

Limitations of the 1976 Johnson and Scott study -

Answer 8

Not a real life EW situation, the participants know they are in a study particularly in the time of when identifying the man, may show demand characteristics. Therefore lacks internal validity of whether the results may show the effects of anxiety on EWT.

Question 9

Strengths of the 1992 Christianson and Hubinette -

Answer 9

One of the strengths is that is a study of the context of real time in a real crime unlike Johnson and Scott. This allows the a high ecological environment of how the effects of the anxiety effected the recall of memory on the crime therefore the results can have high validity. Research conducted is true to real life in a natural setting. It reflects accurately real life testimonies

Question 10

Limitations of the 1992 Christianson and Hubinette study -

Answer 10

Lack of control, there is a disregard of the presence of the individuals in contrast to the situation for example people who were further or closer to the situation will have much different view points of anxiety from proximity, describing the weapon and individual. Lack of extraneous variables so other factors may have an impact.

Question 11

Yerkes-Dodson effect -

Answer 11

The observation that arousal has a negative impact of performance of memory recall, when very low or high, described as the inverted U-shaped curve.