Anxiety Affects On EWT

Question 1

Weapon focus experiment

Answer 1

Johnson and Scott got particants who believed they were taking part in a lab study. Whilst seated in a waiting room in the low anxiety condition Ps heard a casual conversation in the next room and then saw a man walk past them carrying a pen with grease on his hands. In the High anxiety condition Ps overhead a heated argument and the sound of breaking glass, then a man walked out of the room holding a knife covered in blood. The Ps were then asked to pick out the mans picture from a set of photos. 49% of The low anxiety condition managed to identify him whereas 33% of the high anxiety could. This shows that weapon focus has had an effect on memory.

Question 2

Anxiety having posostive effects flashcards

Answer 2

Yuille and Cutshall conducted a study of an actual shooting in a gun shop in Vancouver Canada. The shop owner shot a thief dead. 13 witnesses took part in the study, they were interviewed 4-5 months after the study and these were compared to the original police interview at the time of the shooting. The witnesses were also asked to rate how stressed they had felt at the time of the incident. Results showed that the witnesses were very accurate in their accounts and there was little change in the amount recalled or accuracy after 5 months. Ps who reported highest levels fo stress were most accurate. Shows anxiety does not have a detrimental effect on accuracy of EWT memory IRL and may even enhance it.

Question 3

AO3 unusual

Answer 3

Johnson and Scott study may not have tested anxiety and the reason Ps focused on the weapon may have been because they were surprised rather than scared. Pickel conducted an experiential using scissors, a handgun, a wallet or a raw chicken in a hairdressing salon video. Eye witness accauryc was significantly poorer in the Hugh unusualness conditions (chicken and handgun). Suggest weapon focus may be due to unusualness rather than anxiety.

Question 4

AO3 support for negative effects

Answer 4

Valentine and Mesout did a study where they studied participants who went into the London dungeons labrynth. They used participants heart rate (measures using a monitor) to divide Ps into high-low anxiety groups. The Ps were asked to descibe an actor from the labrythn and and 17% of the Hugh anxiety groups idneietied them opposed to the 75% of the low anxiety groups. Suggestes Hugh level of anxiety has a negative effect on immediate EW recall.

Question 5

AO3 experiment

Answer 5

• Johnson & Scott’s research has been criticised for lacking ecological validity. Although the participants were waiting in the reception area outside the laboratory, they may have anticipated that something was going to happen, which could have affected the accuracy of their judgements.
• A further criticism of Johnson & Scott is that numerous ethical guidelines were broken. The participants were deceived about the nature of the experiment and not protected from harm. Johnson & Scott exposed some of the participants to a man holding a bloodied knife, which could have caused extreme feelings of anxiety.