Role of anxiety in eyewitness testimony Flashcards
Does anxiety lead to more or less accurate EWT?
High level of anxiety leads to less accuracy.
High level of anxiety leads to greater accuracy.
What is the name of a key study?
Johnson and Scott (1979) Pen and knife study
Describe Johnson and Scott study
2 situations : Overheard argument and then saw a man run through waiting room carrying a knife covered in grease/ the same but a paper knife covered in blood.
What are the findings from Johnson & Scott study?
Those witnessed the man holding the pen accurately identified person 49% of the time.
Those who witnessed the man holding the knife accurately identified person 33% of the time.
What is the weapons focus effect?
Participants in a high anxiety condition may have focused their attention on the weapon rather than the perpetrator.
What are strengths of the Johnson and Scott study?
High controlled setting means possible extraneous variables can be controlled/ eliminated (distractions)
Confident in establishing cause and effect between anxiety and memory recall.
Limitations of Johnson and Scott study?
Could lack ecological validity as participants are under stress.
Isn’t a real eyewitness situation
Describe the Yuille and Cutshall study
Real life crime - research was conducted.
Shooting occurred involving owner of gun shop and thief who was armed. Store owner was injured but recovered.
Thief was shot dead.
Some witnesses had seen event up close others had been more distant.
Witnesses interviewed by police at the time of the incident.
13 Witnesses were interviewed again several months later & researchers added misleading info into interview.
What are the findings from the Yuille and Cutshall study?
Witnesses accounts remained highly accurate and weren’t affected by misleading info.
Those closest to event provided most detail.
Accurate accounts recorded months later producing no differences in accuracy: 83% for actions, 76% for people, 90% for objects
What are strengths from Yuille and Cutshall study?
High ecological validity as it is a naturalistic study
can generalise findings as research conducted is true to real life situations
What are some limitations form the Yuille and cutshall study?
Lack of control over what people witness.
Problematic to assess compared to lab experiments.
