research

• anxiety can improve the accuracy of EWT - christianson and hubinette
• • AIM- Christianson and Hubinette wanted to investigate whether anxiety can have a positive effect on recall.
  • PROCEDURE- 110 real life eyewitnesses were studied, who witnessed a bank robbery in Sweden. Some were onlookers (low anxiety) and some were bank clerks who were directly threatened (high anxiety). Interviews were conducted 4-15 months after the event
  • RESULTS- all witnesses showed good recall of the robbery and the high anxiety witnesses had the best recall.
  • CONCLUSION- anxiety improves the accuracy of eye witness testimony.
• anxiety can impair the accuracy of EWT. (Johnson and Scott)
• What was the aim of Johnson and Scott's study?

  To see if anxiety affects EWT accuracy
• What were the two conditions participants were exposed to in the study?

  • No weapon condition: overheard conversation about equipment failure, man with a pen
  • Weapon condition: overheard heated exchange, man with a bloodied letter opener
• What did participants in the no weapon condition see?

  A man holding a pen with grease on hands
• What did participants in the weapon condition see?

  An individual with a bloodied letter opener
• How many photos were participants shown to identify the individual?

  50 photos
• What was the identification accuracy for participants who saw the man with the pen?

  49% identified correctly
• What was the identification accuracy for participants who saw the man with the knife?

  33% identified correctly
• What conclusion can be drawn from Johnson and Scott's study?

  • Higher anxiety levels lead to focus on the weapon
  • This reduces the accuracy of eyewitness testimony (EWT)
  • Known as the weapon focus effect
• Yerkes and Dodson - contradictory anxiety findings

  • low levels of anxiety make people recall less details as they're not paying attention
  • moderate (optimum) levels of anxiety can make people remember details more accurately as they're paying attention and are not directly threatened
  • high anxiety can make people recall less details as they feel more threatened