Accuracy of eyewitness testimony: Anxiety Flashcards

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1
Q

What is anxiety?

A

An unpleasant emotional state of extreme worry

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2
Q

What effect does anxiety have on accuracy?

A

It decreases accuracy

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3
Q

Who conducted a study on the effects of anxiety on EWT?

A

Johnson and Scott

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4
Q

What is the weapon focus effect?

A

The view that a weapon in a criminal’s hand distracts attention due to the anxiety it causes

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5
Q

Outline the procedure of Johnson and Scott’s study.

A

Participants sat in a waiting room where they overheard an argument in another room, and then a man ran through carrying either a greasy pen or a bloody knife. They were later asked to identify the man

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6
Q

What was the high anxiety condition of Johnson and Scott’s study?

A

The bloody knife

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7
Q

What was the low anxiety condition of Johnson and Scott’s study?

A

The greasy pen

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8
Q

What did Johnson and Scott’s findings support?

A

The weapon focus effect

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9
Q

What was the mean recall accuracy in Johnson and Scott’s high anxiety condition?

A

49%

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10
Q

What was the mean recall accuracy in Johnson and Scott’s low anxiety condition?

A

33%

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11
Q

What did Loftus find regarding the weapon focus effect?

A

Using eye tracking technology, they found that in the presence of a weapon, the eyewitness would usually focus on the weapon

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12
Q

Who found support for anxiety having a positive effect on the accuracy of recall?

A

Christianson and Hubinette

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13
Q

Who did Christianson and Hubinette interview?

A

58 real life Swedish bank robbery witnesses

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14
Q

Who were the high anxiety witnesses in Christianson and Hubinette’s study?

A

Victims, such as bank tellers

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15
Q

Who were the low anxiety witnesses in Christianson and Hubinette’s study?

A

Bystanders, such as customers

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16
Q

How long after the robberies did Christianson and Hubinette conduct their interviews?

A

4-15 months

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17
Q

What did Christianson and Hubinette find?

A

That although all witnesses showed recall accuracy of over 75%, the high anxiety individuals had the best recall

18
Q

What type of study did Deffenbacher conduct?

A

A meta-analysis

19
Q

How many studies did Deffenbacher analyse?

A

21

20
Q

What did Deffenbacher look at?

A

The effect of anxiety on EWT

21
Q

What did Deffenbacher find?

A

That half of the studies linked high anxiety to improved EWT accuracy, whereas the other half linked the opposite

22
Q

What effect did Deffenbacher suggest?

A

Yerkes-Dodson effect

23
Q

What does the Yerkes-Dodson effect suggest?

A

It proposes that EWT recall is most accurate with an intermediate level of anxiety

24
Q

What are the 4 AO3 points of the effect of anxiety on the accuracy of EWT?

A

1) Weapon focus may not be caused by anxiety
2) Methodological issues with research
3) Individual differences
4) Alternative explanation

25
Q

Who criticised the weapon focus effect?

A

Pickel

26
Q

What did Pickel suggest about the weapon focus effect?

A

She proposed that the reduced accuracy of memory recall could be due to surprise rather than anxiety

27
Q

Where did Pickel’s study take place?

A

A hairdressers

28
Q

What did Pickel’s participants observe?

A

A thief entering the hairdressers

29
Q

What were the 4 conditions in Pickel’s study?

A

A pair of scissors (high threat, low suprise), a gun (high threat, high surprise), a wallet (low threat, low suprise) or a raw chicken (low threat, high surprise)

30
Q

What did Pickel find?

A

Identification was least accurate in the high surprise conditions

31
Q

What validity did Johnson + Scott’s study lack?

A

Ecological validity

32
Q

Why does Johnson + Scott’s study lack ecological validity?

A

The levels of emotional and physiological arousal would have been less in the lab study than in real life

33
Q

What is the key extraneous variable in the effect of anxiety on EWT?

A

Emotional sensitivity

34
Q

In the study looking at emotional sensitivity, what were the 2 groups?

A

Neurotic (become anxious quickly) or stable (less emotionally sensitive)

35
Q

In the study looking at emotional sensitivity, what was found about the stable participants?

A

Showed increasing levels of accuracy as stress levels increased

36
Q

In the study looking at emotional sensitivity, what was found about the neurotic participants?

A

They showed decreasing levels of accuracy as stress levels increased

37
Q

What may Deffenbacher’s curve be the result of?

A

The result of some participants being highly neurotic and others being highly stable

38
Q

Who proposed an alternative explanation to Deffenbacher’s curve?

A

Fazey + Hardy

39
Q

What did Fazey + Hardy propose?

A

Catastrophe theory

40
Q

What does catastrophe theory predict?

A

That when physiological arousal increases beyond the optimum level, there is sometimes a catastrophic decline due to increased mental anxiety

41
Q

Who are less likely to suffer catastrophe theory?

A

People with high self confidence