This document includes the notes on factors affecting eyewitness testimony, such as anxiety. This is from the topic of memory for AQA A level psychology paper 1. Revision notes follow the AQA specification.
- Anxiety creates physiological arousal and has strong emotional and physical effects.
Anxiety has a NEGATIVE effect on recall
Johnson & Scott made participants believe they were going to take part in a lab study. While
in a waiting room, participants overheard an argument in the next room. They were asked
to select the man they saw from a set of 50 photos.
- Low anxiety condition: A man walked through the waiting area carrying a pen with
grease on his hands. 49% correctly identified the man.
- High anxiety condition: Ps heard glass breaking and a man walked out holding a
paper knife that was covered in blood. 33% correctly identified the man.
THE WEAPON FOCUS EFFECT
- In violent crimes arousal may focus the witness on more central details of the attack.
- Peripheral details may be overlooked due to this.
- In stressful situations, our attention narrows to focus on one aspect of a situation
(tunnel vision). Ps focused on the weapon as it was the source of anxiety.
Anxiety has a POSITIVE effect on recall
Yuille & Cutshall: real-life shooting in a gun shop (Vancouver) the owner shot a thief dead.
- 21 witnesses – 13 agreed to take part in the study.
- Interviews 4-5 months after the incident and compared with police interviews that
took place at the time of the shooting.
- Asked to rate how stressed they felt at the time of the incident using a 7-point scale
and if they had any emotional problems since the event.
F: Witnesses were accurate in their accounts, little change in their accuracy after 5 months.
Some details were less accurate, e.g. age/height. Ps who reported the highest levels of
stress were most accurate.
Yerkes & Dodson: relationship between emotional arousal and performance looks like an
‘inverted U’ - Deffenbacher applied the Yerkes-Dodson Law to EWT.
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