ewt:anxiety

• Anxiety had a positive effect on recall

  Yuille and Cutshall 1986 study on shooting in gun shops in canada. 13 of the EW came back for the study 4-5 months after the event. They were asked to rate how stressed they were on a 7 point scale, and if they had any emotional problems since. High anxiety 88% accuracy compared to the low anxiety group 75%.

  Explaining to contradictory findings

  There is an optimal anxiety arousal where accuracy is highest for an EWT. But when it is lower or any higher than the optimal the accuracy deplets.
• Anxiety had a negative effect on recall (weapon focus)

  Anxiety causes psychological arousal. Johnson and Scott had pps, and created two conditions. High anxiety and low anxiety. The low anxiety group heard a conversation in the room next to them but when the man left the room he had a pen and grease on his hand. But in high anxiety they heard an argument and when a man walked out of the room he was covered in blood holding a knife. High anxiety group 33% accuracy when asked to identify, but the low anxiety 49%.
• Anxiety had a negative effect on recall (weapon focus)

  Anxiety causes psychological arousal. Johnson and Scott had pps, and created two conditions. High anxiety and low anxiety. The low anxiety group heard a conversation in the room next to them but when the man left the room he had a pen and grease on his hand. But in high anxiety they heard an argument and when a man walked out of the room he was covered in blood holding a knife. High anxiety group 33% accuracy when asked to identify, but the low anxiety 49%.
•  limitation for Johnson and Scott is that it may not have tested anxiety. The reason  which the pps may have focussed on the weapon is because they were surprised rather than scared. Pickel 1998 used scissors, a handgun and other items which were unusual, as they were herald in a hair salon video. Eyewitness accuracy was poor with chicken and a handgun. This means that weapon focus effect is due to unusualness not fear, and tells us nothing about the anxiety of an EWT.
• strength is the evidence supporting the negative effects of anxiety on accuracy recall. The Valentine and Mesout study supports that weapon focus had a negative effect on recall. The researchers used an objective measure to determine the high and low anxiety groups. In the study anxiety disrupted the ability to recall accurately about the actor in the London Dungeons. This means that high levels of anxiety have a negative effect on the immediate recall of an EW.
• strength evidence that anxiety has+ve effect on the ability to recall. Christianson and Hubinette interviewed 58 witnesses of bank robberies. ppl who were directly involved had a higher anxiety level compared to the ones who were indirectly involved. The average accuracy across all of the witnesses involved was 75% and above, but those who were the modest anxious out of the directly involved were even more accurate. This means that the findings from this show that high anxiety does not affect the accuracy and ability to recall negatively, and that it could possibly enhance it.