EWT and Anxiety
To
&
what anxiety and weapon
focus are.
To
how
anxiety can affect EWT.
To
,
&
research into the
effects of anxiety on EWT.
How will I know if I am learning?
By the end of the lesson…
E
Will be able to define weapon focus.
C Will be able to explain how anxiety can affect
EWT.
A
Will be able to fully describe and evaluate research
into the effects of anxiety on EWT.
What were your eyes
most drawn to?
How might this make
you feel?
How might this affect
your performance as
an eye witness?
What does being Anxious feel like….?
What
were
your
“Anxiety is an unpleasant emotional state where
eyes
most
drawn
we fear that something bad is about to happen.
to?
People often become anxious when they are in
stressful situations. This anxiety tends to be
accompanied with physiological arousal
How
might
this
(increased heart rate, shallow breathing). Due
affect
your
to this, much of the research in eye witness
performance
as
an
testimony is now focused on the effects of
eye witness?
arousal.”
What were your
High levels of stress made EW memory inaccurate
eyes
most
drawn
Deffenbacher et al 2004
-meta-analysisto?
which found that high levels of stress impacted
on the accuracy of EWT.
High levels of stress made EW memory good
Howmay
might
this
Emotional arousal
enhance
memory
Christianson affect
& Hubinette
1993
your
- Questioned real victims of a bank robbery. They found that
performance as an
those who had actually been threatened were more accurate in
eye witness?
their recall, compared
to those who were onlookers. This
continued to be true 15 months later.
What were your
Task:eyes most drawn
to?
1) Summarise Christianson & Hubinette’s
(1993) study in your notes.
How might this
2) Read
Loftus
et al’s study on page 18 weapon
affect
your
focus
effect and summarise
performance
as an in your notes
eye witness?
What were your
According
Loftus etdrawn
al… Where would this witness be
eyestomost
looking during the scene of a crime involving a weapon?
Whatto?
effect did Loftus find this had on EWT?
How might this
affect your
performance as an
eye witness?
The weapon-focus effect
“This is where in violent crimes,
arousal may focus the witness on more
central details of the attack (eg:
weapon) than the more peripheral
details (eg: what else was going on and
what the perpetrator looked like).”
The weapon-focus effect
Weapon Focus Incident
What do they Remember?
How can we explain these
contrasting findings…?
Task: How would this
explain the conflicting
research?
How can you evaluate the
research from today’s
lesson…?
Lab study
Artificial
Internal validity
External (Ecological Validity)
Representativeness of the participants
Ethical issues
Demand characteristics
Might we find something different if it was a
real life event??
• Does a weapon attract attention because it is
unusual?
• Pickel (1999) found no evidence of weapon
focus when eyewitnesses saw someone
pointing a gun in a situation (a shooting range)
in which guns are expected.
• Most of the research has been lab based.
• Validity in EWT- Real life studies have more
emotional impact.
2010
An American space shuttle exploded soon after it was
launched. All of the astronauts on board were
killed. Crowds of people were watching, including
friends and relatives of the astronauts. Six months after the
explosion, a student decided to investigate the accuracy of
some of the eyewitnesses’
memory of this event.
Explain how anxiety might have affected eyewitness testimony of this
event. Refer to psychological research in your answer. (6 marks)
Candidates must refer to research where the anxiety component is clear.Candidates
might refer to the Yerkes-Dodson law which suggests moderate anxiety is
associated with better recall than very high or very low anxiety. In this case
friends and relatives might show worse recall than other people in the crowd.
Laboratory based research has generally shown impaired recall in high anxiety
conditions. Loftus’ (1979) weapon focuss, Loftus and Burns (1982).
However, in a real life study Yuille and Cutshill (1986) found witnesses who had
been most distressed at the time of a shooting gave the most accurate account
five months later. Also Christianson and Hubinette (1993) found victims of
genuine bank robberies were more accurate in their recall than bystanders.
There is a range of acceptable answers to this question and marks should be given
for effective use of the material.
Answers which do not make explicit reference to this event should be
awarded a maximum of 4 marks.
• In your teams your aim is to get a complete set
of correct notes without looking at your
textbook or workbook and without consulting
each other.
• Decide on an order in which each team member
will have a turn.
• The first team member starts with the paper and
writes down the first required note. They fold
over their answer and pass the note to the next
nominated team mate. They write down the
next note and fold theirs over and pass it on….
Etc.
• In your teams your aim is to get a complete set of
correct notes without looking at your textbook or
workbook and without consulting each other.
• Decide on an order in which each team member
will have a turn.
• The first team member starts with the paper and
writes down the first required note. They fold
over their answer and pass the note to the next
nominated team mate. They write down the next
note and fold theirs over and pass it on…. Etc.
Player 1: Write down the name(s) of psychologist(s) who found
that anxiety had a positive effect on EWT.
Player 2 : Write down the name(s) of psychologist(s) who found
that anxiety had a negative effect on EWT.
Player 3: Describe the Weapon Focus Effect
Player 4: Write down the name of the law which explains
differences in the effect of anxiety on EWT.
Player 5: Explain the Yerkes Dodson Law.
Player 6: Draw a sketch of the Yerkes Dodson Graph.
Player 7: Write down one evaluation of research into anxiety
and EWT.
How will I know if I am learning?
By the end of the lesson…
E
Will be able to define weapon focus.
C Will be able to explain how anxiety can affect
EWT.
A
Will be able to fully describe and evaluate research
into the effects of anxiety on EWT.
EWT and Age
To
&
what the own age bias is.
To
research
into how age affects EWT.
To
Loftus’
research into the effect of
age into EWT.
How will I know if I am learning?
By the end of the lesson…
E
Will be able to define the own age bias.
C Will be able to explain how age affects EWT.
A
Will be able to evaluate research into the effects of
age on EWT.
There is lots of research into age and
EWT. Sort them into research that
suggests older eye witnesses are
more accurate, and research that
suggests younger witnesses are
accurate.
Summarise the findings in your table.
Older EW’s are most accurate
Younger EW’s are most
accurate
How conclusive is the evidence? Why might this be?
Can you think of any methodological
evaluation points of any of these
findings?
Hint: What about ethical issues
regarding children?
• Most studies show old people show poor
performance on eyewitness memory tests.
However, most of the research has asked old
people to recognise college students, but
evidence suggests people are better are
recognising people their own age!
Anastasi & Rhodes (2006) used individuals from
three age groups. They had to rate 24 individuals
(from different age groups) for attractiveness.
Later they were presented with 48 photos: 24 they
had seen previously, and 24 distractors.
Young Photos
Middle Aged
Photos
Older Photos
Young Participants
90
87
85
Middle Aged
Participants
85
93
87
Older Participants
56
62
66
% of correct recognition in each age group.
What do these results imply about age of the participant and age of the
target?
Apparent age effects may be due to the fact that people do
best when asked to identify people of their own age group.
Perhaps this is because we have more contact with people
who are a similar age to us. The lesser experience we have,
the greater the own age bias.
When we encounter people of our own age group more
regularly we become better at processing those faces and
therefore have better memory for them.
Summarise the Own Age Bias and
supporting research in your notes.
And finally – Using Psychological research,
answer the following question. How does age
influence the accuracy of EWT (4 marks).
Now Peer Assess
your answers.
Swap your
answers and
mark them out of
4.
How will I know if I am learning?
By the end of the lesson…
E
Will be able to define the own age bias.
C Will be able to explain how age affects EWT.
A
Will be able to evaluate research into the effects of
age on EWT.
: Factors Affecting Eye Witnesses
• A case of Wrongful conviction
Read the description of the crime, a man is protesting his
innocence. You have been employed as a Forensic
Psychologist to help the defence team with their appeal
1. Explain how the witness’ testimony might have been
distorted
2. Use what you have learnt this week and last week
(think about post event info, age, anxiety, weapon
focus etc)
3. Use evidence from Psychological studies to support
the issues you raise.
To what extent does age influence the accuracy
of eyewitness accounts?
(12 marks)