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Anxiety and Eyewitness Testimony - Coggle Diagram
Anxiety and Eyewitness Testimony
Johnson & Scott 1976
Findings:
Man carrying pen - mean identification accuracy =49%
Man carrying a knife - mean identification accuracy = 33%
Conclusion:
Study supports the idea that anxiety reduces the accuracy of eyewitness testimony and the idea of the weapon focus effect
Negative effect on recall (anxiety)
Procedure:
Yuille & Cutshall 1986
Procedure:
Experiment done after a true event
Participants did an initial interview and then came back for another 4-5 months later
Videos were compared
Accuracy determined by:
Rate of how anxious they felt at the time of the incident
Number of details reported
Emotional problems since
Findings:
Very accurate - those who said they were most stressed were most accurate (88%)
Conclusion:
Suggests that anxiety has a detrimental effect on the accuracy of eyewitness memory in the real world
Positive effect on recall (anxiety)
Valentine & Mescout 2006
Findings:
Highest anxiety participants recalled fewer details correctly
High anxiety - 17% correct identification
Low anxiety - 75% correct identification
Procedure:
Study in real life setting
Participants agreed to wear a heart rate monitor and fill out a questionnaire after visiting London Dungeon
Participants had to describe someone they encountered (actor)
Conclusion:
Suggests high level of anxiety does have a negative effect on the immediate EWT of a stressful event
Tunnel theory
- attention narrows to focus on central events
Weapon focus effect
- tendency to only focus on weapon if one is present
Pickel 1998:
Aim:
To investigate whether weapon focus is due to the unusualness of the weapon or the threat it poses
Findings:
Eyewitness accuracy was significantly poorer in the high unusualness conditions
Conclusions:
Suggests that weapon focus effect is due to unusualness not anxiety
Therefore tells us nothing about the effects of anxiety on EWT