Outline and evaluate the effect of anxiety on eyewitness testimony
Outline and evaluate the effect of anxiety on eyewitness testimony
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Yerkes Dodson law – states that there is an optimum level of anxiety for accurate eyewitness testimony. I.e. People who are not at all stressed, and people who are very stressed will be less accurate eyewitnesses that those who are under a moderate amount of stress.
Loftus carried out a study of the ‘Weapon effect’. She set up two conditions of the experiment. In both conditions, participants heard a discussion in the room next door.
Condition one – after the discussion, the man then came out holding a pen.
Condition two – the discussion was more heated (louder and more aggressive) and one man then came out holding a blood stained paper knife.
When later asked to identify the man leaving the room, only a third of those in condition two were able to do so, compared to half of those in condition one. This is believed to be because, when a weapon is involved, people focus on this and remember less about the other details of the incident.
Loftus and Burns – participants shown videos of violent and non violent crimes (a boy was shot in the face in the violent version). Those in the violent condition remembered fewer details about the crime. Supports weapon effect.
Usefulness of findings – this research has helped us understand how anxiety affects EWT, which should improve police investigation techniques.
However, Yuille and Cuttshall’s study of real life eyewitnesses does not support the Yerkes Dodson law. They interviewed witnesses to a real life violent crime and found that witnesses near to the event had better recall of events than those further away. This study has good ecological validity because it involves a real life crime.
Although, it could simply be that the witnesses were able to see more because they were nearer to the event, rather than being related to the level of stress they were experiencing.
Loftus’s study was carried out in a lab – good
AO1
AO2
Yerkes Dodson law – states that there is an optimum level of anxiety for accurate eyewitness testimony. I.e. People who are not at all stressed, and people who are very stressed will be less accurate eyewitnesses that those who are under a moderate amount of stress.
Loftus carried out a study of the ‘Weapon effect’. She set up two conditions of the experiment. In both conditions, participants heard a discussion in the room next door.
Condition one – after the discussion, the man then came out holding a pen.
Condition two – the discussion was more heated (louder and more aggressive) and one man then came out holding a blood stained paper knife.
When later asked to identify the man leaving the room, only a third of those in condition two were able to do so, compared to half of those in condition one. This is believed to be because, when a weapon is involved, people focus on this and remember less about the other details of the incident.
Loftus and Burns – participants shown videos of violent and non violent crimes (a boy was shot in the face in the violent version). Those in the violent condition remembered fewer details about the crime. Supports weapon effect.
Usefulness of findings – this research has helped us understand how anxiety affects EWT, which should improve police investigation techniques.
However, Yuille and Cuttshall’s study of real life eyewitnesses does not support the Yerkes Dodson law. They interviewed witnesses to a real life violent crime and found that witnesses near to the event had better recall of events than those further away. This study has good ecological validity because it involves a real life crime.
Although, it could simply be that the witnesses were able to see more because they were nearer to the event, rather than being related to the level of stress they were experiencing.
Loftus’s study was carried out in a lab – good