Factors Affecting The Accuracy Of Eyewitness Testimony: Anxiety

What is anxiety?

A state of emotional and physical arousal. The emotions include thoughts and feelings of tension. Pysical changes include an increased heart rate and sweating. Anxiety is a normal reaction to stressful situations.

In terms of the effect on EWT, what does research say about anxiety?

Research supports both possibilities:

• Anxiety has a negative effect on recall.

• Anxiety has a positive effect on recall.

In agreement of anxiety having a negative effect on recall, what does it cause?

Physiological arousal in the body which prevents us paying attention to important cues so recall is worse.

What is one approach to studying anxiety and EWT?

Looking at the effect of the presence of a weapon which creates anxiety. This leads to a focus on the weapon, reducing a witness’ recall for other details of the event.

What research is there on the negative effect of anxiety on EWT?

Research by Johnson and Scott (1976).

What was the procedure of Johnson and Scott?

Their participants believed they were taking part in a lab study. While sitting in a waiting room participants in the low-anxiety group heard a casual conversation in the next room and then saw a man walk past them carrying a pen and with grease on his hands. In the high-anxiety condition, they overheard a heated argument, accompanied by the sound of breaking glass, a man then walked out of the room holding a bloodied knife.

What were the findings of Johnson and Scott?

The participants later picked out the man from a set of 50 photos. 49% of the the low-anxiety group were able to identify him. In the high-anxiety group, it was 33%

What do the conclusions of Johnson and Scott?

The tunnel theory of memory argues that people have enhanced memory for central events. Weapon focus as a result of anxiety can have this effect.

In agreement of anxiety having a positive effect on recall, what does it create?

Anxiety, through physiological arousal within the body. This triggers the fight or flight response which increases alertness. This may improve memory of the event as we become more aware of cues in the situation.

What research is there on the positive effect of anxiety on EWT?

The research of Yuille and Cutshall (1986).

What was the procedure of Yuille and Cutshaw?

They conducted a study of an actual shooting in a gun shop in Vancouver. 13 of 21 witnesses took part in the study. They were interviewed four to five months after the incedent and these interviews were compared with the original police interviews. Accuracy was determined by the number of details reported in each account. Witnesses were asked to rate how stressed they had felt at the time of the incident and whether they had any emotional problems since the event.

What were the findings of Yuille and Cutshaw?

Witnesses were very accurate in their accounts and there was little change in the amount recalled or accuracy after five months. Those who reported higher levels of stress were most accurate, about 88% in comparison to the less stressed group.

What do the findings of Yuille and Cutshaw suggest?

That anxiety does not have a detrimental effect on the accuracy of eyewitness memory in real world context and may even enhance it.

What is the explanation to the contradictory findings surrounding the effect of anxiety on EWT?

According to Yerkes and Dodsosn, the relationship between emotional arousal and performance looks like an ‘inverted U‘. Deffenbacher reviewed 21 studies and noted contradictory findings, he used Yerkes-Dodson law to explain the findings.

What does the Yerkes-Dodson law state?

When we witness a crime/accident, we become emotionally and physically aroused; we experience anxiety as well as physiological changes in the body. At lower levels of anxiety/arousal, accurate recall is lower, but there is an optimum level of anxiety which is the point of maximum accuracy. When there is more arousal than this, recall drastically declines.

What are the strengths of anxiety?

• Support for negative effects.

• Support for positive effects.

How is support for negative effects a strength of anxiety?

The study of Valentine and Mesout supports research on weapon focus, finding negative effects on recall. They used an objective measure (heart rate) to divide participants into high and low-anxiety groups. Anxiety clearly disturbed the participants’ ability to recall details about the actor in the London Dungeon’s Labyrinth.

What does the support for negative effect say about anxiety?

It suggests that a high level of anxiety does have a negative effect on the immediate eyewitness recal of a stressful event.

How is support for positive effects a strength of anxiety?

Christianson and Huibette interviewed 58 witnesses to actual bank robberies in Sweden Some were directly involved and others were indirectly involved. The researchers assumed those directly involved were high anxiety and those indirectly involved were the low anxiety group. Recall was more than 75% accurate across all witnesses and direct victims were even more accurate.

What does the support for positive effecst say bout anxiety?

That anxiety does not reduce the accuracy of recall for eyewitnesses and may even enhance it.

What is the counterpoint to the support for positive effects?

Christianson and Hubinette interviewed their participants several months after the event (four to 15). The researchers therefore had no control over what happened to their participants in the intervening time, like PED. The effects on anxiety may have been overwhelmed by these other factors.

What does the counterpoint to the support for positive effects say about anxiety?

That is is possible that a lack of control over confounding variables may be responsible for the findings, invalidating their support.

What is the limitation of anxiety?

The study of Johnson and Scott may not have tested anxiety.

How is unusualness vs anxiety a limitation of anxiety?

The study by Johnson and Scott may have been testing unusualness and not anxiety. The reason participants focused on the weapon may be because they were surprised at what they saw rather than scared. Pickel conducted an experiment using scissors, a handgun, a wallet or a raw chicken as the hand-held items in a hairdressing salon (scissors are low unusualness and high anxiety). EWT accuracy was poorer in high unusualness conditions (chicken and handgun).

What do the findings of Pickel say about the weapon effect?

That is is due to unusualness rather than anxiety/threat and therefore tells us nothing specifically about the effects of anxiety on EWT.