Evaluation

• Evaluate weapon focus effect may not be relevant

  • Johnson and Scott may test surprise rather than anxiety.
  • Pickel 1998 - experiment using scissors, handgun, wallet and raw chicken In hair dressing salon video.
  • Accuracy was poorer in the high unusualness conditions
• evaluate field studies sometimes lack control

  • Often interview real life witnesses sometime after incident.
  • Many things could have happened -> discussions, accounts read on media
  • Extraneous variables may be the cause of the accuracy
• evaluate inverted u explanation as too simplistic

  • anxiety is difficult to define and measure accurately as it has many elements: cognitive, behavioural, emotional and physical.
  • inverted u assumes only physiological arousal is linked to poor performance