Outline and evaluate research
into the effects of anxiety on the
accuracy of eyewitness
testimony. (16 marks)
Loftus (1979) reported on Johnson and Scott's (1976) experiment on anxiety and
eyewitness testimony accuracy. Participants were invited to a laboratory and instructed
to wait in the reception area. The participants were then subjected to one of two
scenarios: A conversation about equipment failure was overheard by participants,
followed by an individual leaving the laboratory holding a pen. 2) Participants heard a
heated exchange, as well as the sound of breaking glass and crashing chairs, followed
by an individual running into the reception area, holding a bloodied letteropening knife.
Both groups were shown 50 photographs and asked to identify the individual who had
exited the laboratory. Those who saw the man holding the pen correctly identified him
49% of the time. Those who saw the man with the knife correctly identified the target
33% of the time. Loftus proposed that participants who saw the knife felt more anxious
and thus focused their attention on the weapon rather than the face, a phenomenon
known as the weapon focus effect.
A real life case study conducted by Yuille and Cutshall (1986) contradicts the weapon
focus effect. They looked at how anxiety affected a real-life shooting in which one
person was killed and another was seriously injured. The investigating police
interviewed 21 witnesses, and 13 witnesses, aged 15 to 32, agreed to participate in
Yuille and Cutshall's followup research interview 4-5 months later. They discovered that
the 13 witnesses who participated in the followup interview were still accurate in their
eyewitness accounts five months later, with little change in their testimonies. All of the
major details of their reports remained the same, with only minor details, such as age,
height, and weight estimates, changing. Furthermore, the witnesses avoided responding
to leading questions in a biassed manner, and the anxiety they felt at the time of the
event had little or no effect on their subsequent memory of the event. These findings
refute the weapon focus effect and demonstrate that in real life cases of extreme
anxiety, eyewitness testimony accuracy is unaffected.
Outline and evaluate research into the effects of anxiety on the accuracy of eyewitness testimony. (16 marks) 1
into the effects of anxiety on the
accuracy of eyewitness
testimony. (16 marks)
Loftus (1979) reported on Johnson and Scott's (1976) experiment on anxiety and
eyewitness testimony accuracy. Participants were invited to a laboratory and instructed
to wait in the reception area. The participants were then subjected to one of two
scenarios: A conversation about equipment failure was overheard by participants,
followed by an individual leaving the laboratory holding a pen. 2) Participants heard a
heated exchange, as well as the sound of breaking glass and crashing chairs, followed
by an individual running into the reception area, holding a bloodied letteropening knife.
Both groups were shown 50 photographs and asked to identify the individual who had
exited the laboratory. Those who saw the man holding the pen correctly identified him
49% of the time. Those who saw the man with the knife correctly identified the target
33% of the time. Loftus proposed that participants who saw the knife felt more anxious
and thus focused their attention on the weapon rather than the face, a phenomenon
known as the weapon focus effect.
A real life case study conducted by Yuille and Cutshall (1986) contradicts the weapon
focus effect. They looked at how anxiety affected a real-life shooting in which one
person was killed and another was seriously injured. The investigating police
interviewed 21 witnesses, and 13 witnesses, aged 15 to 32, agreed to participate in
Yuille and Cutshall's followup research interview 4-5 months later. They discovered that
the 13 witnesses who participated in the followup interview were still accurate in their
eyewitness accounts five months later, with little change in their testimonies. All of the
major details of their reports remained the same, with only minor details, such as age,
height, and weight estimates, changing. Furthermore, the witnesses avoided responding
to leading questions in a biassed manner, and the anxiety they felt at the time of the
event had little or no effect on their subsequent memory of the event. These findings
refute the weapon focus effect and demonstrate that in real life cases of extreme
anxiety, eyewitness testimony accuracy is unaffected.
Outline and evaluate research into the effects of anxiety on the accuracy of eyewitness testimony. (16 marks) 1
