anxiety

• what is anxiety? 


  an unpleasant emotional state where we fear something bad is about to happen causing psychological arousal
• does Yuille and Cutshall (1986) research show that anxiety has a positive/ negative affect on EWT? 


  positive
• procedure of Yuille and Cutshall research? 


  shop owner shot a thief dead. 13 witnesses were interviewed 4/5 months after and the accuracy of answers/ stress levels on a scale of 1-7 were compared with the immediate police questioning done at the time.
• findings of Yuille and Cutshall research? 


  accuracy was constant (not led by misleading questions), more stressed participants were the most accurate
• does Christianson and Hubinette (1993) research show anxiety has a positive/ negative affect on EWT?


  positive
• procedure of Christianson and Hubinette research? 


  58 bank robbery witnesses had to recall events 4/15 months after the event. some had been directly involved and some were bystanders
• findings of Christianson and Hubinette research? 


  recall was 75% accurate across all but more accurate for people directly involved
• limitations of Christianson and Hubinette research? 


  no control over what participants did in the time between the event and the study (contamination). different participants would have talked about it to different degrees (confounding variable)
• does Johnson and Scott (1976) research show anxiety has a positive/ negative affect on EWT? 


  negative
• procedure of Johnson and Scott research? 


  participants thought they were in a lab study in a waiting room. in the low anxiety group there was a casual conversation and a man walked past with a pen. in the high anxiety group there was a heated conversation and a man walked past with a bloody knife. participants had to pick out the man from 50 photos
• findings of Johnson and Scott research? 


  49% identified him in the low anxiety

  33% identified him in the high anxiety
• does Loftus and Burns (1982) research show anxiety has a positive/ negative affect on EWT?

  negative
• procedure of Loftus and Burns research?

  226 uni students watched a film; half watched a violent film and half watched a non violent film. they had to recall the events
• findings of Loftus and Burns research? 


  participants who watched the violent film recalled fewer details
• limitation of Loftus and Burns research? 


  low mundane realism (video footage not an actual experience)
• how is contrasting research on anxiety explained? 


  with the Yerkes-Dodson Law (performance improves with increase of arousal up to an optimum point and then declines with further increase)