Anxiety

• Research into the effects of anxiety on the accuracy of EWT

  • Loftus (1979)
  • Yerkes-Dodson Law of arousal
• Procedure: "Weapon Focus" Loftus (1979)

  • placed participants outside a lab so that they could listen to conversations.
  • In one condition it was a normal conversation about equipment failure, and a man walks out with greasy hands and a pen.
  • In another condition the conversation is hostile and there would be the sound of breaking glass, and a man walks out with a knife covered in blood.
  • Participants were then given 50 photographs and asked to identify the man who came out of the lab.
• Findings: "Weapon Focus" Loftus (1979)

  • Found more identified the man with the pen (49%) than the man with the knife (33%)
  • This suggests that the high anxiety caused by the knife took focus away from the face, so this study acts as evidence for weapon focus
• Yerkes-Dodson Law of arousal

  • This law shows an inverted U-shaped relationship between arousal and performance
  • Moderate levels of anxiety may enhance memory and attention, leading to more accurate eyewitness testimony
  • However, too high or too low levels of anxiety can impair memory and recall accuracy
  • This theory suggests that optimal levels of anxiety are necessary for optimal performance.
• Supporting research: Anxiety on EWT

  • Researcher: Peters (1988)
  • found that participants who visited a healthcare centre and interacted with a researcher and a nurse were more able to recognise the researcher because the nurse gave them an injection, suggesting that there was weapon focus on the needle.
  • This is better as it has high ecological validity (normal setting) and high mundane realism (getting an injection is a normal procedure) so its results are more generalisable.
• Unethical: Loftus (1979)

  study can be seen as unethical as it was designed to create high levels of anxiety, so this goes against the psychologist’s duty to protect participants from (in this case mental) harm
• Limitation: Loftus (1979)


  • limitation is the artificial nature of the experimental setting
  • Participants in the study were exposed to a simulated crime scenario, which may not fully replicate the emotional intensity and stress associated with witnessing a real crime
  • The ecological validity of the study's findings could be questioned, as real-life crime situations may involve additional contextual factors and heightened emotional arousal that could impact eyewitness accuracy differently