Eye witness testimony and anxiety

• How does anxiety affect EWT?

  Your fight or flight is set off so you get an adrenaline surge and heightened emotions such as fear, shock or distress
• What is the positive effect of anxiety on EWT?

  Fight or flight means we can scan this environment for signs of danger so we can pick up sensory cues on the environment. This may boost memory
• Who did research into anxiety and EWT?

  Yuille and Cutshall (1986)

  Johnson and Scott (1976)
• What did Johnson and Scott do?


  Told Ps to wait in a reception area, and had people experience one of 2 conditions

  1. No weapon. Ps overheard a conversation about equipment failure. Someone left the lab holding a pen with his hands covered in grease
  2. Weapon. Ps overheard an exchange involving broken glass and crashing chairs. Someone left the lab holding a bloodied letter opener

  Ps had to identify the person who left the lab
• What did Johnson and Scott find?


  Those in the no weapon condition identified the target 49% of the time

  Those in the weapon condition identified the target 33% of the time
• What did the Ps in the weapon condition of Johnson and Scott’s study experience?

  Weapon focus effect
• What is the weapon focus effect?


  The tendency for eyewitnesses to focus on a weapon during the crime, not the face of the target
• What did Yuille and Cutshall do?


  Interviewed witnesses of a shooting 5 months later, using misleading information. Ps had to rate their stress level at the time of the shooting
• What did Yuille and Cutshall find?


  Witnesses who reported high stress at the time were mores accurate in their recall
• What is a strength of Yuille and Cutshalls study?


  Used real life eye witnesses so their research has high ecological validity
• What is a weakness of Yuille and Cutshalls research?


  Very small sample of Ps, so research cannot be generalised