Anxiety

Anxiety

1. Yerkes-Dodson Law

2. Deffenbacher et al. (2004)

   • Meta-analysis
     • High anxiety = low accuracy
   • Strength: no ethical issues - no more anxiety than normal
     • Weakness: could inherit methodological flaws

3. Christianson and Hubinette (1993)

   • questioned 58 witnessers of real-life robberies
     • found that those threatened in some way had improved recall and remembered more details
   • Strength: real life robberies - high external validity
     • Weakness: low population validity

4. Weapon-focus effect

   • Loftus et al. (1987)
     • Participants heard a discussion in an adjoining room
       • Condition 1: man exited with a pen and greasy hands
         • 49% accurate
           • Condition 2: a man exited with a paperknife and bloody hands
             • 33% accurate
               • Conclusion: weapon distracted the witness away from the person holding it
     • Strength: lack of demand characteristics
       • Weakness: individual differences (how they will react to the weapon)

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