Anxiety

Question 1

What’s research into negative effects on recall due to anxiety?

Answer 1

• Johnson and Scott (1976) did research on weapon focus where participants believed they were taking part in a lab study, while in waiting room (if in low anxiety situation) they overheard a casual conversation and someone walking past them looking stressed
• in high anxiety situation they heard breaking glass and someone running holding a bloody knife
• participants had to pick out man from 50 photos, 49% of low anxiety remembered face and 33% of high anxiety remembered

Question 2

What are 2 evaluation points of weapon focus research?

Answer 2

• Strength that there is research support from Valentine and Mesout (2009) where researchers used heart rate to divide participants in high or low anxiety, anxiety clearly disrupted recall - reliable
• Limitation that Johnson ans Scott may have not been testing anxiety, participants may have just been surprised showing that weapon focus could just be due to unusualness not anxiety - lacking validity