The affect of anxiety on EWT

Question 1

What is anxiety

Answer 1

A state of increased physical and emotional arousal. The bodies response to stress.

Question 2

What is weapon focus effect

Answer 2

When a witness diverts their attention to the weapon rather than the perpetrator. Leads to memory impairment for these details.

Question 3

What is Yerkes Dodson law

Answer 3

Describes the relationship between anxiety and performance. performance increases with anxiety until a certain point.

Question 4

What was the and findings from the Peters innoculation study 1988

Answer 4

1 week later participant remembered the the researcher better.
Anxiety has a negative affect in recall.

Question 5

What was the results of the Loftus, Johnson and scott experiment

Answer 5

Both PPTs shown 50 photos and asked to identify the person.

No weapon- 49% weapon- 33%

Question 6

What were the results of the Yuille and Cutshaw experiment 1986

Answer 6

Investigated after a real shooting. 13 PPTs agreed to do a follow up interview. 5 months after the initial interviews major points were all there and leading questions had little effect.
This refutes the weapon focus effect theory. The most anxious witnesses had better recall.

Question 7

Strengths of the affect of anxiety on EWT

Answer 7

+Practical applications- understanding anxieties affects is useful in courtrooms. Can show eyewitnesses can be unreliable in court
+High ecological validity- In Y&C it was a real crime so reactions were genuine and not artificial. Research can be generalised to real situations/

Question 8

What are the weaknesses of the affect of anxiety on EWT

Answer 8

• Lab studies are constrained by ethics, Creating a good replica would be unethical. Fake crimes cause less anxiety so lack ecological validity. Also demand characteristics
• Field studies lack control for cause and effect- In Y&C they had no control over port event discussion. lack of control threatens internal validity.

Question 9

Procedure from the Johnson and Scott study

Answer 9

pps in waiting room. condition 1- no weapon, argument and then a greasy pen. condition 2- bloody letter opener.

Question 10

Inverted U is too simple

Answer 10

only focuses on physical anxiety
anxious thoughts mat not always lead to symptoms of anxiety but may block memory
doesn’t regard cognitions