Anxiety and Eye Witness Testimony Flashcards
(15 cards)
What is anxiety? (Another factor affecting EWT)
An unpleasant emotional state that is often accompanied by increased heart rate and rapid breathing (AKA physiological arousal)
What do studies suggest Anxiety have a positive effect on EWT? What do they suggest about it in a negative way? ( 2 things )
- Some suggest it has a positive effect as anxiety can help us recall things by creating more enduring/ accurate memories.
- Others suggest it has a negative effect as performance on complicated tasks is reduced by stress.
What effect did Johnson + Scott (1976) suggest and what was the method to their waiting room study? ( Negative Effects of Anxiety )
They suggested the ‘weapon-focus effect’
Ppts were asked to sit in a waiting room where they heard an argument next door and then saw a man running through.
The low anxiety condition saw him carry a pen covered in grease
The high anxiety condition saw him carrying a knife covered in blood.
What is the ‘Tunnel theory’ to EWT?
Argues that ppts have enhanced memory for central events rather than accounting any peripheral details.
What were the results for the low/ high anxiety group for Johnson + Scott’s (1976) waiting room study? What does this suggest, and what does this support? (Negative effects of Anxiety)
- Mean accuracy of testimony for low anxiety condition recall was 49% whereas only 33% recalled for the high anxiety condition.
- Suggests ppts tend to focus on weapons rather than crucial details (e.g who it was)
- Supports idea that anxiety has a negative effect on EWT as ppts tend to focus on immediate danger rather than key details.
What was the study that Valentine (2009) conducted in support of Johnson and Scott’s (1976) waiting room study? What were the results for the 2 groups? ( Negative effects of anxiety )
- Studied low anxiety + high anxiety visitors to the London Dungeon and were given a heart monitor as they walked around the Horror Labyrinth.
- Found that those who had low anxiety were much more accurate, 75%, when asked to recall an actor they saw compared to the high anxiety group having 17%.
What did Pickel (1998) suggest regarding the weapon focus not being caused by anxiety? ( Negative effects of Anxiety)
They suggested that the reduced accuracy of testimony when weapons were present could be due to surprise rather than anxiety.
What was the method to Pickel’s ‘surprise’ study (4 different items etc) and what did they find? ( Negative effects of Anxiety)
Ppts watched a thief enter a salon carrying:
-scissors (high threat, low surprise)
-a handgun (high threat, high surprise)
-a wallet (low threat, low surprise)
-a whole raw chicken (low threat, high surprise)
Found that the correct identification was least accurate in high surprise condition than the high threat condition, suggesting weapon-focus effect relates to surprise more than anxiety.
What was the method to Yuille and Cutshall’s (1986) study that suggests EWT can be improved by anxiety ? ( 2 things ) ( Positive effects of Anxiety)
- Following a shooting in a shop, Vancouver, they interviewed 13 of the 21 witnesses at 4-5 months after the event.
- They were rated for their accuracy of recall and the level of anxiety they felt at the time and whether they had any emotional problems since the event
What 2 results did Yuille and Cutshall (1986) find from their ‘gun shop’ study and what do these suggest? ( Positive effects of Anxiety)
- Ppts were reliable and that time had a negligible impact on their recall.
- Ppts who did experience high levels of stress were more accurate (88% compared to 75% for those less stressed).
Suggests anxiety may increase accuracy for real-world contexts.
What did Christianson + Hubinette use to support the positive role anxiety has in EWT?
They used a questionnaire with 58 real witnesses of bank robberies.
They found that the greater the threat, the more accurate the recall/ more detail ppts were able to recall.
What did Deffenbacher (1983) find in a review that reduced the contradiction of positive/ negative effects of anxiety on EWT?
They found that, while anxiety has a negative effect on the accuracy of EWT, they also found it has increased accuracy under certain conditions.
What is the Yerkes-Dodson effect and what is it also known as?
It is a prediction that performance will increase at first as stress (anxiety) increases and then there will be an optimal peak of performance before declining, as anxiety becomes too high and prevents performance from increasing.
Also known as the inverted U theory, as it looks like n.
What are the 2 issues to EWT research?
- High/ Low anxiety groups are only checked and moderate anxiety isn’t, meaning there is unreliability of the studies that use low/high anxiety to approach moderate anxiety.
- Each person responds different to level of anxiety, i.e someone’s moderate anxiety could be another’s high anxiety.
How did Parker et al. (2006) test levels of anxiety/ accuracy of recall? What relation did they find? (2 points)
- Interviewed people who experienced damage to their homes during the hurricane Andrew.
- Found there was a link between amount of damage to a home (measure of the anxiety they felt) and the accuracy of their recall.
