Evaluating Accuaracy Of Eyewitness Testimony: Anxiety

Question 1

Weapon focus effect may not be caused by anxiety:

Pickel (1998)

Answer 1

found that it may be due to surprised and so formed 4 conditions varying with high threat low surprise, vice versa or the opposite and found that in the high surprise conditions rather than high threat, identification was less accurate

Question 2

Real life vs Lab Studies:

Answer 2

One of the strengths of Christianson and Hubinette (1993)s study, was that it was a study of anxiety in the context or real crime and thus real emotions were aroused

Question 3

Individual differences:

Bothwell et al. (1987)

Answer 3

labelled participants as either Nuerotic (easily anxious) or Stable and found that those who were neurotic showed decreasing levels of accuracy as their stress levels increased