Describe and evaluate research that has investigated the influence of anxiety in the accuracy of
EWT
Negative effect of anxiety Anxiety has a positive effect Yerkes- Dodson law- inverted U
Johnson and scott- looked at the effect of weapons Fight of flight- increases our alertness and improves
on recall. They led participants to believe they were memory, as we are aware of cues in situation. Lower levels of anxiety produce lower levels of
going to take part in a lab study. recall accuracy.
Yuille and Cutshall- they did a study on a real life
Two conditions- low anxiety where they heard an shooting in a gun shop in Vancouver Canada. The Memory becomes accurate as the level of anxiety
argument in the next room and saw a man walk shop owner shot the theif dead and 13 p’s agreed to experienced increases
through the waiting area holding a pen with grease take part in the study.
on his hands. However there comes a point where the optimal
Interviews took part 4-5 months after incident and level of anxiety is reached. This is point of
High anxiety- participants overhead same argument compared to original police interviews made at the maximum accuracy and if they experience more
but also heard sound of breaking glass and a man time. The number of details reported in each account stress than this then accuracy of recall will
walking out holding a paper knife with blood on his determined accuracy. decrease.
hands. They were also asked how stressed they were using
a 7 point scale and asked if they had emotional This is an alternative- shows it has either a positive
Findings- p’s had to pick out man from 50 photos, problems since. or negative effect not a definite effect and shows
49% were able to identify pen man but only 33% for both studies are right.
knife man. Findings- witnesses were very accurate, little change
after 5 months. P’s that reported highest stress were
Tunnel theory- witness attention narrows to focus on more accurate. 88% compared to 75% for the less
weapon stressed group. Minor details such as height, weight
changed only
Supporting study Ethical guidelines broken Field studies lack control
Pickel conducted an experiment using scissors, a A weakness is that many ethical guidelines were Field studies such as yuille and cutshalls lack
handgun, a wallet or a raw chicken in a hairdressing broken. control, as they are real life eyewitnesses.
salon.
This was shown In Johnson and scotts study when For example, researchers interview eyewitnesses
He found that eyewitness accuracy was significantly participants were deceived about the nature of the after the event and uncontrollable variables such
poorer in the high unusualness conditions (chicken study and not protected from harm, they exposed as participants looking at media coverage, PED and
and handgun). the p’s to a man holding a bloody knife which could affects of event may affect the participant’s recall
have caused extreme anxiety. of the event.
Therefore, this suggests that the weapon focus effect
is due to unusualness rather than anxiety and Therefore, the p’s may have left the experiment Therefore, extraneous variables may be
therefore tells us nothing specifically about the feeling very stressed and anxious. However they can responsible for the accuracy of recall and affects of
effects of anxiety on EWT. Johnson and scott may be look at the cost benefit such as using these anxiety may be overwhelmed by these factors.
testing surprise rather than anxiety, they focus on experiments to compare with less controlled field
the weapon because they are surprised to see it. experiments.
EWT
Negative effect of anxiety Anxiety has a positive effect Yerkes- Dodson law- inverted U
Johnson and scott- looked at the effect of weapons Fight of flight- increases our alertness and improves
on recall. They led participants to believe they were memory, as we are aware of cues in situation. Lower levels of anxiety produce lower levels of
going to take part in a lab study. recall accuracy.
Yuille and Cutshall- they did a study on a real life
Two conditions- low anxiety where they heard an shooting in a gun shop in Vancouver Canada. The Memory becomes accurate as the level of anxiety
argument in the next room and saw a man walk shop owner shot the theif dead and 13 p’s agreed to experienced increases
through the waiting area holding a pen with grease take part in the study.
on his hands. However there comes a point where the optimal
Interviews took part 4-5 months after incident and level of anxiety is reached. This is point of
High anxiety- participants overhead same argument compared to original police interviews made at the maximum accuracy and if they experience more
but also heard sound of breaking glass and a man time. The number of details reported in each account stress than this then accuracy of recall will
walking out holding a paper knife with blood on his determined accuracy. decrease.
hands. They were also asked how stressed they were using
a 7 point scale and asked if they had emotional This is an alternative- shows it has either a positive
Findings- p’s had to pick out man from 50 photos, problems since. or negative effect not a definite effect and shows
49% were able to identify pen man but only 33% for both studies are right.
knife man. Findings- witnesses were very accurate, little change
after 5 months. P’s that reported highest stress were
Tunnel theory- witness attention narrows to focus on more accurate. 88% compared to 75% for the less
weapon stressed group. Minor details such as height, weight
changed only
Supporting study Ethical guidelines broken Field studies lack control
Pickel conducted an experiment using scissors, a A weakness is that many ethical guidelines were Field studies such as yuille and cutshalls lack
handgun, a wallet or a raw chicken in a hairdressing broken. control, as they are real life eyewitnesses.
salon.
This was shown In Johnson and scotts study when For example, researchers interview eyewitnesses
He found that eyewitness accuracy was significantly participants were deceived about the nature of the after the event and uncontrollable variables such
poorer in the high unusualness conditions (chicken study and not protected from harm, they exposed as participants looking at media coverage, PED and
and handgun). the p’s to a man holding a bloody knife which could affects of event may affect the participant’s recall
have caused extreme anxiety. of the event.
Therefore, this suggests that the weapon focus effect
is due to unusualness rather than anxiety and Therefore, the p’s may have left the experiment Therefore, extraneous variables may be
therefore tells us nothing specifically about the feeling very stressed and anxious. However they can responsible for the accuracy of recall and affects of
effects of anxiety on EWT. Johnson and scott may be look at the cost benefit such as using these anxiety may be overwhelmed by these factors.
testing surprise rather than anxiety, they focus on experiments to compare with less controlled field
the weapon because they are surprised to see it. experiments.
