MEMORY - factors affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony: anxiety Flashcards
what is anxiety?
a state of emotional and physical arousal. Prevent us from paying attention to important cues, so recall is worse.
who looked at the presence of a weapon that creates anxiety?
Johnson and scott (1976)
outline the procedure of Johnson + Scott (1976)
- Ps believed that they were taking part in a lab study
- LOW ANXIETY CONDITION = Ps heard a casual conversation in next room + saw a man walk past carrying a pen.
- HAC = heated argument, breaking glass, man walked out with a bloody knife.
outline the findings of Johnson + Scott (1976).
Ps picked out the man from 50 photos
LAC = 49% identify
HAC = 33%
TUNNEL THEORY = people have enhanced memory for central events. HAC= people had focused more on the weapon due to anxiety.
who studied arousal, when anxiety enhances recall?
Yuille + Cutshall (1986)
Outline the procedure of Yuille + Cutshall (1986)
- actual shooting in a gunshop
- owner shot theif dead
- 21 witnesses (13 took part in study)
- interviewed 4-5 months after + response compared to OG police interviews
- witnesses asked to rate how stress they were
Outline the findings of Yuille + Cutshall (1986).
- increased level of stress meant that there was increased levels of accuracy = anxiety doesn’t have a detrimental effect on the accuracy of eyewitness memory.
what is the yerkes-dodson law?
the relationship between emotional arousal and performance looks like an ‘inverted U’. low lvls of anxiety produces lower rates of recall accuracy. memory becomes more accurate when anxiety increases. there is an optimal level.
evaluate the inverted U theory.
+ reasonable explanation of the contradictory findings linking anxiety with both increased and decreased eyewitness recall.
- ignores the fact that anxiety has many elements = cognitive,behavioural,emotional and physical; Only focuses on physical arousal. The way we think in a situation is important.
give STRENGTHS of research into the affect of anxiety on EWT?
+ J&S may have not tested anxiety = Ps may have focused on weapon because they were surprised rather than scared = weapon focus effect is due to unusualness rather than anxiety = therefore doesn’t tell us effect of anxiety on EWT
+ supporting evidence for negative effect of anxiety on accuracy recall
eg Valentine + Mesout (2009) = support research on weapon focus. Used objective measurement (HR) = high lvls of anxiety does have a negative effect on the immediate eyewitness recall of a stressful event.
+ support for +ive effects
eg Christianon + Huibinette = interviewed 58 witnesses pf bank robberies. some directly and indirectly involved.
Researchers assumed that Ps directly involved = high anxiety.
They found that direct victims were accurate
= confirms that anxiety does not reduce accuracy.
give LIMITATIONS of research into the affect of anxiety on EWT?
COUNTERPOINT: interviewed Ps after many moths of event. Researchers had no control of what happened to Ps in that time.
Lack of control over confounding variables may be responsible for these findings = decreasing validity.
