EWT: Anxiety

• Anxiety can have either a positive effect or a negative effect on an eyewitness
• Being in a heightened state of physiological arousal (fight or flight) can enhance Eye Witness Testimony (EWT)
• The Tunnel theory proposes that the presence of a weapon can have a negative effect on EWT (weapon focus effect)
• The Yerkes-Dodson law applies to EWT and anxiety, as too much arousal induced by anxiety can impair cognitive functions such as memory
• Research support for EWT and anxiety:

  • Yuille and Cutshall (1986): participants who had been real-life eyewitnesses of a shooting were not misled by false information and leading questions (positive effect on memory)
• Evaluation of the research:

  • Yuille and Cutshall (1986): the research used a sample of 13 participants who had witnessed a unique event, making replication impossible due to its uniqueness and findings not generalisable
• Ethical issues can be cited as a valid AO3 point when answering questions on EWT, as exposing participants to conditions of shock, surprise, or distress requires careful protection and the right to withdraw at any point during the procedure
• Conflicting evidence exists about the effect of stress and anxiety on the accuracy of Eyewitness Testimony (EWT)
• Many psychologists believe anxiety negatively affects EWT accuracy, while others argue it can improve it
• Real-life incidents involving high stress levels have shown detailed, accurate, and long-lasting memory, contradicting the simple relationship between emotional arousal and EWT accuracy
• Deffenbacher (1983) found that accuracy is poor when emotional arousal is either high or low, but better under conditions of moderate arousal
• Johnson and Scott (1976) study on anxiety levels and EWT accuracy:

  • Aim: investigate the effect of anxiety levels on EWT accuracy
  • Procedure: laboratory study where participants heard different scenarios before identifying a person from photographs
  • Findings: anxiety caused by a weapon (e.g., blood-stained knife) narrowed the focus of attention, making recall less detailed and accurate
• Strengths of Johnson and Scott's (1976) study:

  • Further research by Deffenbacher et al (1983) supports that anxiety affects EWT accuracy, with high anxiety levels impairing accuracy
• Weaknesses of Johnson and Scott (1976) study:

  • Research contradicts Loftus, suggesting anxiety can improve EWT accuracy, like Christianson and Hubinette's study on real bank robberies
  • Loftus's study can be criticized as unethical for exposing participants to disturbing scenes
• Anxiety is a state of emotional and physical arousal. The emotions include having worried thoughts and feelings of tension. Physical changes include an increased heart rate and sweatiness. Anxiety is a normal reaction to stressful situations, but it can affect the accuracy and detail of eyewitness testimony.
• Adrenalin increases heart rate, breathing rate, and muscle strength, preparing us to fight or flee danger.
• When we are anxious, our brain releases chemicals such as cortisol and norepinephrine, which affect how memories are formed and stored.
• The tunnel theory suggests that anxiety narrows your attention onto one aspect of a scene (e.g. a weapon in Johnson and Scott's study), like tunnel vision, and this means you won't be able to recall much else.
• 𝙉𝙀𝙂𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙑𝙀 𝙀𝙁𝙁𝙀𝘾𝙏:

  𝘗𝘙𝘖𝘊𝘌𝘋𝘜𝘙𝘌: Johnson and Scott (1976) studied the effect of a weapon on anxiety. Their participants believed they were taking part in a lab study. While seated in the waiting area the low-anxiety condition heard a casual conversation in the next room and saw a man walk past with greasy hands and a pen. High anxiety heard an argument, breaking glass, and saw a bloody man with a knife.

  
  

  𝘍𝘐𝘕𝘋𝘐𝘕𝘎𝘚: 49% were able to identify the man with a pen from 50 photos; this was 33% for the man with the knife. This was due to weapon focus (tunnel theory).
• Anxiety creates physiological arousal in the body which prevents us paying attention to important cues, so recall is worse. One approach to studying anxiety and eyewitness testimony (EWT) is to look at the effect of the presence of a weapon which creates anxiety. This leads to a focus on the weapon, reducing a witness's recall for other details of the event.
• Witnessing a stressful event creates anxiety through physiological arousal within the body. The fight or flight response is triggered, increasing alertness. This may improve memory of the event as we become more aware of cues in the situation.
• 𝙋𝙊𝙎𝙄𝙏𝙄𝙑𝙀 𝙀𝙁𝙁𝙀𝘾𝙏:

  𝘗𝘙𝘖𝘊𝘌𝘋𝘜𝘙𝘌: Yuille and Cutshall (1986) studied an actual shooting in a gun shop in Canada. 13 of 21 witnesses took part in the study and were interviewed after 4-5 months. The interviews were compared with original police interviews. The witnesses were also asked to rate how stressed they were during the incident.

  𝘍𝘐𝘕𝘋𝘐𝘕𝘎𝘚: There was little change in accuracy between interviews. Those who reported high levels of stress were 88% accurate, compared to 75% in the less-stressed group. Anxiety enhanced the accuracy of EWT.
• The accuracy of EWT in Yuille and Cutshall's (1986) study was measured by the number of details reported in each account.
• Yuille and Cutshall asked their participants to rate how stressed they had felt at the time of the incident on a 7-point scale.
• Yuille and Cutshall's (1986) findings suggest that anxiety does not have a detrimental effect on the accuracy of eyewitness testimony in a real-world context and may even enhance it (they found that high stress = 88% accurate, low stress = 75% accurate).
• Yuille and Cutshall (1986) found there was little change in accuracy between interviews (less accurate only in minor details, such as age/height/weight estimates). Those who reported high levels of stress were 88% accurate, compared to 75% in the less-stressed group. Anxiety enhanced the accuracy of the participants' EWT.
• 𝘾𝙊𝙉𝙏𝙍𝘼𝘿𝙄𝘾𝙏𝙊𝙍𝙔 𝙁𝙄𝙉𝘿𝙄𝙉𝙂𝙎:

  Yerkes and Dodson (1908) suggested that the relationship between emotional arousal and performance looks like an 'inverted U'.

  Kenneth Deffenbacher (1983) reviewed 21 studies of the effects of anxiety on EWT and explained the contradictory findings of them using the Yerkes-Dodson Law:

  • lower levels of anxiety produce lower levels of recall accuracy
  • memory becomes more accurate as the level of anxiety increases
  • maximum accuracy occurs at the optimum anxiety level
  • any more arousal causes a drastic decline in recall accuracy
• Johnson and Scott (1976) studied the effect of a weapon on anxiety.
• Johnson and Scott's (1976) participants believed they were taking part in a lab study. While seated in the waiting area the low-anxiety condition heard a casual conversation in the next room and saw a man walk past with greasy hands and a pen. The high-anxiety condition heard a heated argument, the sound of breaking glass, and saw a man walk past with bloody hands and a knife.
• In Johnson and Scott's (1976) study, 49% of participants in the low-anxiety condition were able to identify the man with a pen from a collection of 50 photos. The corresponding figure for the high-anxiety condition was 33%.

  These findings are due to the tunnel theory of memory, which suggests that weapon focus as a result of anxiety enhances memory for central events but reduces it for peripheral ones.
• 𝙀𝙑𝘼𝙇𝙐𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉𝙎:

  1. unusualness not anxiety (Pickel)
  2. support for negative effects (Valentine and Mesout)
  3. support for positive effects (Christianson and Hubinette)
  4. counterpoint for support for positive effects
  5. problems with the inverted-U theory
• 𝟭. 𝗨𝗡𝗨𝗦𝗨𝗔𝗟𝗡𝗘𝗦𝗦 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗔𝗡𝗫𝗜𝗘𝗧𝗬:

  One limitation of the study by Johnson and Scott (1976) is that it may not have tested anxiety.

  The reason participants focused on the weapon may be because they were surprised at what they saw rather than scared. Pickel (1998) conducted an experiment using scissors, a handgun, a wallet, and a raw chicken as handheld items in a hairdressing video. EWA was much poorer in the high unusualness conditions (handgun, chicken).

  This suggests the weapon focus effect is not due to anxiety and therefore tells us nothing about anxiety's effect on EWT.
• 𝟮. 𝗦𝗨𝗣𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗡𝗘𝗚𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗘𝗙𝗙𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗦:

  One strength is evidence supporting the view that anxiety has a negative effect on the accuracy of recall.

  Valentine and Mesout's (2009) study supports the research on weapon focus, finding negative effects on recall. The researchers used an objective measure (heart rate) to divide participants into high- and low-anxiety groups. In this study, anxiety clearly disrupted the participants' ability to recall details about the actor.

  This suggests that a high level of anxiety does have a negative effect on the EWR of a stressful event.
• Valentine and Mesout (2009) carried out a study in the real-world setting of the Horror Labyrinth at the London Dungeon. Participants in the study wore wireless heart monitors to confirm they were experiencing anxiety and on this basis were divided into high- and low-anxiety groups.

  The participants' task was to describe a person (actor) encountered in the Labyrinth. The high-anxiety group recalled less details and made more mistakes, only 17% identifying the correct actor in a line-up. The corresponding figure for the low-anxiety group was 75%.
• Valentine and Mesout (2009) found that the high-anxiety group recalled less details and made more mistakes, with only 17% identifying the correct actor in a line-up. The corresponding figure for the low-anxiety group was 75%.
• Valentine and Mesout's (2009) study supports the negative effects of anxiety on eyewitness testimony.
• 𝟯. 𝗦𝗨𝗣𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗣𝗢𝗦𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗘𝗙𝗙𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗦:

  Another strength is evidence that anxiety can have positive effects on the accuracy of recall.

  Christianson and Hubinette (1993) interviewed 58 witnesses to actual bank robberies in Sweden. Some witnesses were more directly involved (e.g. bank workers) than others (e.g. bystanders). It was assumed that those directly involved would have experienced more anxiety. Recall was 75% accurate across all witnesses with those directly involved even more so.

  These findings confirm that anxiety does not reduce the accuracy of recall for EWT.
• 𝟰. 𝗖𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗣𝗢𝗜𝗡𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗦𝗙𝗣𝗘:

  During their study, Christianson and Hubinette interviewed their participants 4 - 15 months after the event. They therefore had no control over what happened during the intervening time (e.g. post-event discussions). The effect of anxiety may have been overwhelmed by these other factors and impossible to assess by the time of the interview.

  Therefore, it is possible that a lack of control over confounding variables may be responsible for these findings, invalidating their support.
• 𝟱. 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗕𝗟𝗘𝗠𝗦 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗜𝗡𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗧𝗘𝗗-𝗨:

  The inverted-U theory appears to be a reasonable explanation of the contradictory findings of research linking anxiety with both increased and decreased recall, however it ignores the fact that anxiety has many elements (cognitive, behavioural, emotional, physical) and focuses only on physical arousal, assuming it is the only aspect linked to EWT.

  This suggests that the theory is too simplistic because the way we think about stressful events could have a different effect on EWT compared with that predicted by physical arousal.
• Weapon focus -> An explanation of forgetting because attention is narrowed.