Talk:Weapon focus

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 25 February 2020 and 2 May 2020. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Kelis Johnson. Peer reviewers: Sydneywilkerson, Elif Tunaboylu.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 04:49, 18 January 2022 (UTC)

Use of the Source "The weapon focus effect in child eyewitnesses"
Hello, all! I am one of the student editors that has been assigned to edit this page through my Psychology class at Duke University along with Kelis Johnson. We do not have access to one of the sources - Pickel, Kerri L.; Narter, Dana B.; Jameson, Molly M.; Lenhardt, Thomas T. (2008). "The weapon focus effect in child eyewitnesses" (http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10683160701391307). Psychology, Crime & Law. 14 (1): 61–72. doi:10.1080/10683160701391307 (https://doi.org/10.108 0%2F10683160701391307). ISSN 1068-316X (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1068-316X). - used in this article, but think that the information taken from this source needs to be made more clear.

The Wikipedia Entry states: ''At a similar time, Pickel et al. (2008) conducted comparable research, which used videos containing either a weapon or neutral object.[20] Again, children recalled significantly less accurate information when a knife was involved as opposed to a water bottle. The researchers attributed this to the unexpected nature of the knife and schema violation. Adults were found to be more accurate in general with their recollection of the perpetrator than children; language abilities, appreciation for the situation and differing locations were all implicated in these asymmetries. ''

It is clear that this study found that children are also affected by weapon focus, however we believe the last sentence about the asymmetries is unclear to the average reader. If the study states that language ability differences in children and adults and situational differences were considered in the conclusion, it should be changed to state that more clearly. We recommend that another editor that has access to this article edits this unclear part of the Wikipedia page. Thank you! Jnasco (talk) 21:52, 14 April 2020 (UTC)

adding to 'Background information' section
Hello! I am one of the student editors assigned to this page. We want to include as a part of the “Background information” section a paragraph about current debates regarding expert testimony on the validity of weapons focus. These debates are explained in greater detail in the rest of the article but adding some information about it here would illuminate why weapon focus is important and provide background information as to how it is currently being applied/debated in the real world. Feedback on this change is appreciated. Thank you. Kelis Johnson (talk) 22:17, 14 April 2020 (UTC)

Additions to "Causes of weapon focus"
We would like to include descriptions of cognitive functions/brain activity that is involved in the arousal that can lead to weapon focus. For example, the function of the amygdala and fear when encountering a weapon and the neurological effects of stress. Feedback on this change would be appreciated. Thank you. Jnasco (talk) 22:24, 14 April 2020 (UTC)

I think the addition of brain activity (especially the amygdala as you mentioned) would be very helpful in this section. I think it would help to add some of this in the second paragraph where the yerkes-dodson law and Easterbrook's theory because they mention they effects of stress and fear but don't really dive into how this works regarding brain activity. (Btking111 (talk) 16:37, 21 April 2020 (UTC))

Peer Feedback
I like the idea of including a Background information section because Weapon Focus plays an important role in the debate of credibility of eye witness testimony. A better explanation of this relation in the background section would be helpful. I agree that additional emphasis on cognitive functions is needed. Especially, the change in the cognitive processing of the items presented can be emphasized. A description of brain activity can be helpful to better understand the phenomena. I also think the additional explanation of stereotypical expectations is needed since it has a significant implications for the conception of a threat and cognitive processing. In the individual differences section, "These differences in eyewitness memory can be attributed to whether the perpetrator holding a weapon is consistent with the eyewitness's schema." claim needs a supportive reference. I also think that ethical concerns and eye-witness credibility references are weak; I believe this is an important point that needs to be emphasized more. Elif Tunaboylu (talk) 11:01, 21 April 2020 (UTC)

Peer Feedback
I think you have some great ideas layed out to improve the article. I like the suggestion of adding more information on the scientific backing of weapon focus in the "Causes of weapon focus" section. Adding this third explanation on how fearful emotions and the amygdla play a role will only strengthen the understanding of the reader on of how the weapon can is able to distort memory.

It would be helpful if you could to add a small portion on change blindness in the "Background information" section to further the notion of the unreliable eyewitness in a crime including a weapon. You could talk about how the weapon draws in the witness' focus and can cause them to not encoded the full picture of what is going on around them. This paragdigm in conjuction with heighnted stress levels create a situation for a very unreliable witness who is not able to give a valid report of their surroundings at the time of the crime. This is extremely pertanant because of how much weight juries put on eyewitness reports in criminal proceedings.

Sydney Wilkerson 16:17, 21 April 2020 (UTC)

Thank you for this helpful feedback! We will be sure to add more about the amygdala and fearful emotions as well as emphasizing the weight juries place on eyewitness testimony. After reading more on change blindness, I am not sure that it directly applies to this article because it concerns the tendency to not detect the addition of new elements to a scene, rather than the effects of focusing in on one aspect at the expense of other parts of the scene. I think where it may be most helpful is explaining that the memory errors brought on by weapons focus occur during the encoding process of new memory. Kelis Johnson (talk) 19:02, 24 April 2020 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Human Cognition SP23
— Assignment last updated by Alessandro219 (talk) 20:14, 25 April 2023 (UTC)