memory: factors effecting eyewitness testimony -> anxiety

Question 1

What is anxiety?

Answer 1

A state of physiological arousal in the body and mind which prevents us from paying attention to important cues, so recall is worse

Question 2

What are some symptoms of anxiety?

Answer 2

• worried thoughts and feelings of tension
• increased heart rate and sweatiness

Question 3

What is one approach to studying anxiety (weapon focus) and EWT?

Answer 3

To look at the effect of the presence of a weapon which creates anxiety. This leads to a focus on the weapon, reducing a witnesses’ recall for other details of the event

Question 4

Who did research into the negative effects of anxiety on EWT?

Answer 4

Johnson and Scott (1976)

Question 5

What was the procedure of research into the negative effects of anxiety on EWT?

Answer 5

• Pps believed they were participating in a lab study
• While seated in a waiting room , pps in the low-anxiety condition heard a casual convo in the next room and saw a man walk past holding a pen with greasy hands
• in the high anxiety condition, pps heard a heated argument and the sound of breaking glass then saw a man walk out the room with a knife covered in blood

Question 6

What were the findings of the research into the negative effects of anxiety on EWT?

Answer 6

• 49% of pps who saw the man holding a pen were able to identify him out of a set of 50 photos
• the corresponding figure for pps who saw the man holding the blood-covered knife was 33%

Question 7

What were the conclusions of research into the negative effects of anxiety on EWT?

Answer 7

• Demonstrates the tunnel theory as it argues that people have an enhanced memory for central events rather than peripheral details
• The weapon focus effect as a result of anxiety can have this effect

Question 8

How can anxiety have a positive effect on recall?

Answer 8

• Witnessing a stressful event creates anxiety through physiological arousal within the body
• the fight or flight response is triggered, increasing alertness
• this may improve memory for the event as we become more aware of cues in the situation

Question 9

Who did research into the positive effects of anxiety on recall?

Answer 9

Yuille and Cutshall (1986)

Question 10

What was the procedure of research into the positive effects of anxiety on recall?

Answer 10

• 21 witnesses observed a shooting incident in Canada outside a gun shop in which 1 person was killed and a 2nd seriously wounded.
• All the witnesses were interviewed by the investigating police, and 13 witnesses agreed to a research
• interviewed 4-5 months after the event. The witnesses were also asked to rate how stressed they had felt at the time of the
  incident, using a 7-point scale.
• The eyewitness accounts provided in both the police and research interviews were
  analysed and compared

Question 11

What were the findings of research into the positive effects of anxiety on recall?

Answer 11

• the witnesses were highly
  accurate in their accounts, and there was little change in amount or accuracy of recall after 5 months.
• Pps who reported the highest levels of stress were most accurate (about 88% compared to 75% for the less stressed group)

Question 12

What were the conclusions of research into the positive effects of anxiety on recall?

Answer 12

Anxiety does not have a detrimental effect on EWT and may even enhance it

Question 13

Who used the Yerkes-Dodson law and why?

Answer 13

Deffenbacher (1983) to explain the contradictory findings on the effects of anxiety

Question 14

What is the Yerkes-Dodson (1908) law of arousal?

Answer 14

• Performance will increase with stress but to a certain point where it will decrease drastically
• there is an optimal level of anxiety which is the maximum point of accuracy

Question 15

Evaluation: Problems with inverted-U theory -> limitation

Answer 15

• ignores the fact that anxiety has many elements - cognitive, behavioural, emotional and physical
• focuses only on the physical arousal and assumes that this is the only aspect linked to EWT
• the way we think about stressful situations e.g. cognitive may also be important

Question 16

Evaluation: support for negative effects of anxiety on EWT -> strength

Answer 16

• Valentine and Mesout (2009) support the research on weapon focus, finding negative effects on recall
• the researchers used an objective measure (heart rate) to divide participants into high and low anxiety groups
• anxiety clearly disrupted participants’ ability to recall details about the actor in the London Dungeon’s labyrinth
• 17% of the high anxiety group correctly identified the actor compared to 75% correct identification by those in the low-anxiety group

Question 17

Evaluation: Unusualness not anxiety -> limitation

Answer 17

• a limitation of Johnson and Scott’s study as it may not have tested anxiety
• the reason pps focused on the weapon may be because they were surprised at what they saw rather than scared
• Pickel (1998) conducted an experiment using scissors, a handgun, a wallet or a raw chicken as the hand-held items in a hairdressing salon video
• eyewitness accuracy was significantly poorer in the high unusualness conditions (chicken and handgun)
• suggests that the weapon focus effect is due to unusualness rather than anxiety/threat so tells us nothing specifically about the effects of anxiety on EWT