Factors affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony: anxiety

Question 1

what does anxiety create in the body?

Answer 1

physiological arousal which prevents us paying attention to important cues which means recall is worse

Question 2

what is one approach to studying EWT?

Answer 2

to look at the effect of the presence of a weapon which creates anxiety. This focuses on the weapon reducing a witness’s recall for other details of the event

Question 3

Johnson and Scott’s procedure

Answer 3

1. ppts believed they were taking part in a lab study
2. while sat in a waiting room ppts in the low-anxiety condition heard a conversation in the next room and saw a man walk past carrying a pen with grease on his hands.
3. other ppts overheard a heated argument, accompanied by the sound of breaking glass. a man then walked out the room carrying a knife covered in blood - this was the high-anxiety condition

Question 4

Findings and conclusions of Johnson and Scotts’ study

Answer 4

• ppts later picked out the man from a set of photos
• 49% who saw the man carrying a pen could identify him
• 33% could identify the man who held the knife covered in blood

Question 5

what does the tunnel theory of memory argue?

Answer 5

people have enhanced memory for central events
weapon focus as a result of anxiety can have this effect

Question 6

what is triggered by anxiety?

Answer 6

the fight or flight response

Question 7

what does the flight or fight response do?

Answer 7

increases alertness which may improve memory for the event as we are more aware of cues in the situation

Question 8

what did Yuille and Cutshall study?

Answer 8

an actual shooting in a gun shop in Vancouver
13/21 witnesses took part

Question 9

Yuille and Cutshall procedure

Answer 9

1. witnesses were interviewed 4-5 months after the shooting
2. interviews were compared with original police interviews at the time of the shooting
3. accuracy was determined by the number of details reported in each account
4. witnesses were also asked to rate how stressed they felt at the time of the incident on 7-point scale and if they had any emotional problems since the event

Question 10

finds of Yuille and Cutshalls’ study

Answer 10

• witnesses were very accurate in their accounts
• there was little change in the interviews conducted 4-5 months later although details such as colour of items and age were less accurate
• ppts who reported highest levels of stress were most accurate suggesting anxiety doesn’t have a detrimental effect on the accuracy of eyewitnesses memory and in a real-world context might enhance it

Question 11

what did Yerkes and Dodson say?

Answer 11

the relationship between emotional arousal and performance looks like an ‘inverted U’

Question 12

what did Deffenbacher find after reviewing 21 studies of EWT?

Answer 12

contradictory findings on the effects of anxiety

Question 13

what did Deffenbacher use to explain his findings?

Answer 13

Yerkes-Dodson Law

Question 14

what happens when we witness a crime/ accident?

Answer 14

we become emotionally and physiologically aroused which means we experience anxiety as well as physiological changes in our body

Question 15

what happens if you have lower levels of anxiety/ arousal?

Answer 15

you produce lower levels of recall accuracy and then memory becomes more accurate as the level of anxiety/ arousal increases

Question 16

what is the optimal level of anxiety?

Answer 16

the point of maximum accuracy if a person experiences any more arousal their recall suffers a drastic decline

Question 17

unusualness not anxiety

Answer 17

• one limitation of the study by Johnson and Scott is that it may not have tested anxiety
• the reason ppts focused on the weapon rather than the person could be due to the fact they were surprised to see it
• Pickel conducted an experiment using scissors, a handgun, a wallet or raw chicken as the handheld item in a hairdressing salon video
  *EWT was significantly poorer in high unusualness conditions (raw-chicken and handheld gun)
• suggests weapon focus effect is due to unusualness rather than anxiety/ threat and tells us nothing specifically about the effect of anxiety on EWT

Question 18

support for negative effects

Answer 18

• one stregnth is evidence supporting anxiety has a negative effect on accuracy of recall
  *study by Valentine and Mesout supports research on weapon focus finding negative effects on recall
  *suggests high level of anxiety has a negative effect on the immediate eyewitness recall of a stressful event

Question 19

support for positive effects

Answer 19

*another strength is evidence showing anxiety can have positive effects on the accuracy of recall
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