Eyewitness Testimony

Anxiety

Johnson & Scott (1976)

aim: To investigate whether anxiety affects the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.

method: Participants were invited into a laboratory and told to wait in the reception area. The receptionist excused themselves leaving participants alone waiting. The experiment used an independant groups design as each group was exposed to one condition: 1, no-weapon:  an individual leaves the lab holding a pen with a hand covered in grease. 2, weapon: individual runs to reception area holding a blood covered knife. Both groups were asked to identify the person who left the lab from 50 photos of different people.

findings: those who witnessed the no weapon condition correctly identified the man 49% of the time. Those who witnessed the weapon condition correctly…