factors affecting ewt anxiety pt 2

Question 1

procedure: yuille and cutshall

Answer 1

aim: to investigate effect of anxiety on ewt in real life crime
procedure: study of real life situation of gun shop shooting, 13/21 witnesses agreed to take part. pts had interviews 4-5 months after incident and were compared to original police interviews made at time of shooting
accuracy measured by number of details reported in each accounts
pts also asked how stressed they were at time of incident using a 7 point scale and if they had any emotional problems since the event

Question 1

yuille cutshall: conclusion and results

Answer 1

they showed that witnesses of a real life incident had remarkable accurate memories of a stressful event involving weapons. recall found to be accurate even after long time
pts who reported highest stress were most accurate. 88% to 75%
conclusion: higher anxiety improves accuracy of pts recall

Question 2

weakness: field experi

Answer 2

P: field experi and real crime
e: causes lack of control regarding info pts have access to which may have impacted their accuracy. e.g eye witnesses may have discussed crime with one another (post event discussion) hereby distorting memory of crime
t: decreases internal validity

Question 3

strength: real life

Answer 3

P: research from real life
e: behaviour would be more true and accurate
t: higher eco val can generalise