Memory - Anxiety (EWT) Flashcards
What is anxiety?
Anxiety is a state of emotional and physical arousal. The emotions include having worried thoughts and feelings of tension. Physical changes include an increased heart rate and sweatiness. Anxiety is a normal reaction to stressful situations but can affect the accuracy and detail of eyewitness testimony.
What is the weapon focus effect?
The weapon focus effect is when the presence of a weapon in a situation distracts attention, reducing the ability to recall other details accurately. Research by Johnson and Scott demonstrates that anxiety from seeing a weapon narrows focus to the weapon rather than other details of the event.
How does anxiety negatively affect recall?
Anxiety creates physiological arousal that prevents attention to important cues, impairing memory. Johnson and Scott (1976) showed that participants exposed to a high-anxiety situation (man with a bloody knife) identified the culprit less accurately (33%) than those in a low-anxiety situation (man with a pen and grease, 49%).
How can anxiety improve recall?
Anxiety can trigger the fight-or-flight response, improving alertness and memory. Yuille and Cutshall (1986) found participants involved in a real-life shooting had high accuracy in recall even five months later. Participants reporting higher stress levels were 88% accurate compared to 75% for those reporting lower stress levels.
What is the inverted-U theory?
According to Deffenbacher (1983), the relationship between arousal and performance follows an inverted-U curve. Moderate anxiety improves performance, but too much anxiety worsens it. This explains contradictory findings on anxiety’s effect on eyewitness testimony.
What is one evaluation point for anxiety’s effect on EWT?
The weapon focus effect may be due to unusualness rather than anxiety. Pickel (1998) showed accuracy was poorer in unusual conditions (e.g., a raw chicken in a hairdressing salon). This suggests weapon focus reflects surprise, not anxiety, questioning its relevance to EWT
What is another evaluation point for anxiety’s effect on EWT?
Field studies lack control over variables. Witnesses may discuss the event or read media reports, introducing extraneous variables that can influence recall accuracy. These factors limit the internal validity of field studies investigating anxiety’s effect on EWT.
What is a limitation of lab studies on anxiety and EWT?
Lab studies may create artificial settings and induce demand characteristics. Participants may figure out the aim and alter responses to appear helpful. This reduces the ecological validity and reliability of findings.
What ethical concerns arise in anxiety research?
Creating anxiety in participants is potentially unethical as it may cause psychological harm. Researchers rely on real-life studies to avoid inducing harm, but these can have uncontrollable variables, raising questions about the balance between ethics and research validity.
