Weapon focus

• whose theory does weapon focus support?

  deffenbacher and the inverted-U Hypothesis
• what does 'weapon focus' refer to?

  the concentration of a crime witness's attention on a weapon, and the resultant reduction in ability to remember other details of the crime
• what does weapon focus cause?

  attentional narrowing
• what is attentional narrowing?


  where the invididual's attention has narrowed to just the weapon
• what has psychological research shown?

  that people under anxiety tend to concentrate on those aspects of an event or experience which they feel are most important, often as they represent danger

  • WEAPON FOCUS IS AN EXAMPLE OF THIS PSYCHOLOGICAL PHENOMENON
• what is an individual faced with a gun aimed at them likely to concentrate on?


  the gun to the complete exclusion of the attacker's face or physical characteristics

  • weapon focus