Anxiety [EWT]

Question 1

Which study showed anxiety to have a negative effect on EWT?

Answer 1

Johnson & Scott

Question 2

How was anxiety shown to have a negative effect on EWT?

Answer 2

• ppts sat in waiting room for ‘lab study’
• 2 confederates had an argument in separate room
• low anxiety condition:
  man walked out carrying a PEN with GREASE on hands
• high anxiety condition:
  man walked out carrying a PAPER KNIFE with BLOOD on hands and breaking glass heard
• ppts asked to pick man from 50 photos
  RESULTS
  49% low anxiety recalled him correctly
  33% high anxiety recalled him correctly
  = high anxiety makes EWT less reliable

Question 3

What does Johnson & Scott’s study really test? ewt

Answer 3

The weapon focus effect

Question 4

Why does the weapon focus effect affect EWT?

Answer 4

In high anxiety situations, people focus on the weapon, therefore recall for the peripheral vision is less accurate

Question 5

Which ethics do Johnson & Scott’s study breach? ewt

Answer 5

DECEPTION - ppts didn’t realise it was fake

+ PSYCHOLOGICAL HARM

Question 6

How has Johnson & Scott’s study been criticised? ewt

Answer 6

The weapon focus effect may test surprise not anxiety
- PICKEL carried out a similar experiment and found that a handgun and raw chicken were similarly inaccurate for recall
= the weapon focus effect may not say much specifically about EWT therefore cannot help psychologists

Question 7

Which study showed anxiety to have a positive effect on EWT?

Answer 7

Yuille & Cutshall

Question 8

How was anxiety shown to have a positive effect on EWT?

Answer 8

• used a real life shooting
• 13 witnesses were interviewed at the time and asked how stressed they were on a 7-point scale
• then interviewed 4 months after the event
• new and original interviews were compared
  RESULTS
  witnesses who reported highest stress levels were more accurate - 88% vs 75%
  = in real life situations, high anxiety improves recall

Question 9

Why is Yuille & Cutshall’s study more ethically sound? ewt

Answer 9

Uses a real life event = no artificially created psychological damage

Question 10

How has Yuille & Cutshall’s study been criticised? ewt

Answer 10

• Field experiment = no control over extraneous variables, post-event discussion may have occurred & could impact recall accuracy due to rehearsal
• A 7-point scale could be different for each person, and social desirability may skew answers

Question 11

How has the different results been explained? ewt anxiety

Answer 11

Using the Yerkes-Dodson Law

Question 12

What is the Yerkes-Dodson Law?

Answer 12

A bell shaped graph showing how recall performance initially increases as anxiety grows, then it peaks [at the optimal point] and declines dramatically

Question 13

How has the Yerkes-Dodson Law been criticised?

Answer 13

• It implies that the ppts in the lab experiment suffered from higher levels of anxiety than those who experienced the real life shooting
• The curve is too simple to explain all the cognitive processes

Question 14

Why are there contradictory findings? ewt anxiety

Answer 14

Anxiety is difficult to measure and all people may respond differently