outline and evaluate research into anxiety

Question 1

outline 1

Answer 1

anxiety has strong emotional and physical effects; it is not clear whether this affects eyewitness recall in a positive or negative way

negative effect: Johnson and Scott 1976

Anxiety creates physiological arousal in the body that prevents us from noticing important cues so recall is worse

Participants asked to sit in a waiting area next to a lab before taking part in the experiment

2 conditions:
No-weapon (low anxiety)
overheard an argument in the next room, they then saw a man walk through the waiting area holding a pen with grease on his hand

Weapon (high anxiety)
Whilst waiting, overheard an argument in the next room, accompanied by the sound of breaking glass. They then saw a man leave the room holding a paper knife covered in blood

Participants were then asked to identify the man who had left the room from a set of 50 photos

No-weapon condition:
49% could correctly identify the man but only a few could describe the pen

Weapon condition:
33% could correctly identify the man but most could describe the letter opener (suggesting participants were more focused on the weapon)

tunnel of memory - attention of witness will narrow to focus on weapon as its source of danger and anxiety
- weapons focus effect where person focuses attention on weapon as it unable to recall anything else

Question 2

outline 2

Answer 2

positive effect on recall

Christianson and Hubinette 1993 (Natural experiment, independent groups, volunteer sampling)

The stress of witnessing a crime or accident creates anxiety through physiological arousal; the fight or flight response is triggered which increases our alertness and improves our memory for the event because we become more aware of cues in the situation

58 participants who had witnessed 22 real life robberies between them were questioned about what they saw 4-15 months after the events

The witnesses were either victims (working behind the counter) and so experienced high anxiety or bystanders (customers) and so experienced low anxiety

All witnesses showed good memories for details of the robbery with around 75% accurate recall of events

Witnesses who had experienced high anxiety because they had been directly threatened by the robbers gave more accurate EWTs than witnesses who experienced low levels of anxiety as they had not been threatened

This suggests that anxiety, caused by being threatened, increased participants accuracy of their EWT

can be explained by yerkes-dodson law
– relationship between emotional arousal and performance looks like inverted U

Deffenbacher (1983) applied this to EWT saying that lower levels of anxiety produce lower levels accuracy in recall, then memory becomes more accurate as the level of anxiety reaches the optimal point

If anxiety surpasses the optimum level because the participant experiences higher levels of stress/anxiety then accuracy of recall is reduced

Question 3

Limit 1

Answer 3

Of Johnson and Scott’s study is that it may test surprise and not anxiety

This is because the participants may focus on the weapon because they are surprised at what they see, rather than because they are scared

Pickel (1998) carried out an experiment using scissors, a gun, raw chicken and a wallet in a hairdressing salon and found that accuracy of EWT was poorer in the high unusualness conditions (chicken and gun)

This suggests that the weapons focus effect is due to unusualness rather than anxiety and as such, doesn’t tell us specifically about the effects of anxiety on EWT

Question 4

limit 2

Answer 4

Explanation given by Yerkes-dodson curve is too simplistic

This is because anxiety is difficult to define and it is made up of many elements e.g. physical, behavioural, emotional

The yerkes-Dodson curve assumes that only 1 of the elements is linked to poor performance - physical in terms of physiological arousal.

This means that the explanation fails to take into account other factors, e.g. emotional effects of witnessing a crime on the accuracy of memory

Question 5

limit 3

Answer 5

Research into effects of anxiety on EWT can cause psychological harm

Which is when the procedure causes mental distress, which participants have the right not to experience

As psychologists interview people who have already witnessed a real-life event and so there is no need to recreate it

Ethical issues don’t challenge the findings of a study such as Johnson and Scott’s but they do raise questions as to the need for such research to take place

Question 6

limit 4

Answer 6

Demand characteristics can affect laboratory studies

This is when participants perceive the demands of a study, decreasing internal validity of the research as participants are more likely to show unnatural behaviour

Most laboratory studies show participants a filmed and staged crime and most participants will be aware that they are watching a filmed crime for the purpose of a research study. It is likely that many participants will work out that they are going to be asked questions about what they have seen and might give responses that seem helpful

This affects the internal validity of the research as it means that the accuracy of EWT is not being measured.