Definition of Anxiety
Anxiety is a state of apprehension, worry or fear.
Anxiety causes intense stress at the time of the incident.
This means that the eyewitness may have difficulty encoding the information during the acquisition stage of the memory process.
Anxiety causes intense stress at the time of the incident.
This means that the eyewitness may have difficulty encoding the information during the acquisition stage of the memory process.
Loftus (1979) The role of anxiety in eyewitness testimony
Aim: To find out whether anxiety in eyewitness testimony affected later identification.
Procedure:
Exposed to one of two conditions:
1. Overheard a low key discussion in a lab about an equipment failure. A person them emerged from the laboratory holding a pen in grease covered hands.
2. Overheard a heated and hostile debate between people in the lab. After the sound of breaking glass and crashing chairs. A man came out of the lab holding a paper knife covered in blood.
Participants were then asked to recall the person from 50 photos.
Findings:
whereas
Conclusion:
This demonstrated the 'weapon focused phenomenon' as the participants focused on the weapon and were less likely to recall the person accurately.
It was concluded that a weapon focuses the attention and narrows the focus of attention, resulting in accurate central details but less accurate peripheral details.
Procedure:
Exposed to one of two conditions:
1. Overheard a low key discussion in a lab about an equipment failure. A person them emerged from the laboratory holding a pen in grease covered hands.
2. Overheard a heated and hostile debate between people in the lab. After the sound of breaking glass and crashing chairs. A man came out of the lab holding a paper knife covered in blood.
Participants were then asked to recall the person from 50 photos.
Findings:
- 49% correctly recalled the confederate from 50 photos in the condition where the person emerged holding a pen in greasy hands.
whereas
- 33% correctly recalled the confederate from 50 photos when the person emerged holding a paper knife covered in blood.
Conclusion:
This demonstrated the 'weapon focused phenomenon' as the participants focused on the weapon and were less likely to recall the person accurately.
It was concluded that a weapon focuses the attention and narrows the focus of attention, resulting in accurate central details but less accurate peripheral details.
Supporting evidence by Loftus & Burns (1982)
Participants were allocated to one of two conditions.
1. Watched a violent short film where a boy was shot in the head
or
2. Watched a non-violent short film of a crime
Participants were less accurate in recall when they saw the violent short film than those who watched the non-violent movie.
This demonstrates support for Loftus (1797) as it shows that when people witness anxiety provoking situations they are less likely to recall accurately.
1. Watched a violent short film where a boy was shot in the head
or
2. Watched a non-violent short film of a crime
Participants were less accurate in recall when they saw the violent short film than those who watched the non-violent movie.
This demonstrates support for Loftus (1797) as it shows that when people witness anxiety provoking situations they are less likely to recall accurately.
Research to contradict by Christianson & Hubinette (1993)
They conducted research using 110 real life eyewitnesses who had witnessed one of 22 bank robberies.
Some were onlookers and some were bank clerks who had been directly threatened by the robbers.
It was found that:
This demonstrates that anxiety did not make recall inaccurate and in some cases may have made recall more accurate.
Some were onlookers and some were bank clerks who had been directly threatened by the robbers.
It was found that:
- victims were more accurate than onlookers in their descrpition of the bank robbers.
- There recall lasted even after 15 months.
This demonstrates that anxiety did not make recall inaccurate and in some cases may have made recall more accurate.
A02 Evaluation of research into anxiety and eyewitness testimony
One weakness is that the majority of research into anxiety and eyewitness testimony is laboratory based.
This means that the tasks may lack mundane realism. The tasks are not usually expected on real life, for instance you would not be normally asked to recall a short film. This means that the participants may not be focused on the details as they would be in a real life crime.
In addition to this laboratory research is conducted in an artificial situation, this means that it may lack ecological validity. therefore the findings cannot be generalised outside of the laboratory setting.
Furthermore the participants may recognise the expectations of the research and may demonstrate demand characteristics. tHis will alter the way they behave within the stusy and in turn the validity of the research findings.
A second weakness is that there is consistent evidence that investigates anxiety and eyewitness testimony.
Inspection of the research findings demonstrates that the role of anxiety may have different implications when in real life compared to laboratory based research. This shows that in real life eyewitness testimony anxiety can heighten the accuracy of recall (Christian and Hubbinette, 1993) whereas Loftus (1979) suggested that anxiety particularly posed by a weapon may decrease recall accuracy.
Thirdly, anxiety research raises ethical issues.
The participants in Loftus (1979) were deceived as they were led to believe it was a real situation, this it may have caused psychological harm to the participant. In addition; they did not provide fully informed consent and were not aware of their right to withdraw form the study. The researchers attempted to over come this by fully debriefing participants at the end of the study and allowing them the right to withdraw.
One strength of Loftus (1979) is that the research is easily replicable as it was an experiment that maintained high control over the extraneous variables.
A second strength is that Loftus (1979) uses a scientific method, this means that we can state that the IV effects the DV.
This means that the tasks may lack mundane realism. The tasks are not usually expected on real life, for instance you would not be normally asked to recall a short film. This means that the participants may not be focused on the details as they would be in a real life crime.
In addition to this laboratory research is conducted in an artificial situation, this means that it may lack ecological validity. therefore the findings cannot be generalised outside of the laboratory setting.
Furthermore the participants may recognise the expectations of the research and may demonstrate demand characteristics. tHis will alter the way they behave within the stusy and in turn the validity of the research findings.
A second weakness is that there is consistent evidence that investigates anxiety and eyewitness testimony.
Inspection of the research findings demonstrates that the role of anxiety may have different implications when in real life compared to laboratory based research. This shows that in real life eyewitness testimony anxiety can heighten the accuracy of recall (Christian and Hubbinette, 1993) whereas Loftus (1979) suggested that anxiety particularly posed by a weapon may decrease recall accuracy.
Thirdly, anxiety research raises ethical issues.
The participants in Loftus (1979) were deceived as they were led to believe it was a real situation, this it may have caused psychological harm to the participant. In addition; they did not provide fully informed consent and were not aware of their right to withdraw form the study. The researchers attempted to over come this by fully debriefing participants at the end of the study and allowing them the right to withdraw.
One strength of Loftus (1979) is that the research is easily replicable as it was an experiment that maintained high control over the extraneous variables.
A second strength is that Loftus (1979) uses a scientific method, this means that we can state that the IV effects the DV.